The Hawthornes

Updated 26 February 2022

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of CQC’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic we are looking at how services manage infection control and visiting arrangements. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection prevention and control measures the provider had in place. We also asked the provider about any staffing pressures the service was experiencing and whether this was having an impact on the service.

This inspection took place on 13 January 2022 and was announced. We gave the service 24 hours notice of the inspection.

Updated 26 February 2022

About the service

The Hawthornes is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to 40 older people, including people who are living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 28 people living at the service.

The Hawthornes has two floors. The first floor provides care to people living with dementia. All bedrooms have en-suite facilities and there are communal areas such as lounges, dining rooms and bathrooms on both floors.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People felt safe. Systems were in place to safeguard people from the risk of abuse. People received their medication as prescribed by staff who had been appropriately trained.

Risks to people were effectively managed. Staff knew people well and were knowledgeable about individual risk management. Safe infection prevention and control (IPC) practices were in place to minimise the risk of spread of infection.

Systems in place to monitor the service were effective in identifying and addressing areas that required improvement. There was a positive culture at the service. People were happy with the support they received. People and staff were involved in making changes to the service.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 16 August 2019).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted through our intelligence monitoring system. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service remains as requires improvement.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Hawthornes on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.