Headingley Hall Care Home

Updated 8 February 2020

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

On the first day the inspection was carried out by one inspector, an assistant inspector and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The second day of the inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Headingley Hall is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

Both days of the inspection were unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority commissioning and safeguarding teams and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with seven people who used the service and seven relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with eleven members of staff including the registered manager, deputy manager, regional manager, catering manager, senior care workers, care workers, the administrator and the activity co-ordinator. We also spoke with three visiting health care professionals.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and five people’s medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.

Updated 8 February 2020

About the service

Headingley Hall is a residential care home providing personal care for up to 57 older people, some of who are living with dementia. At the time of the inspection there were 44 people using the service.

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

People and relatives were unanimous in their praise of the staff and the exceptionally high standards of care and support provided. The whole staff team were exceptionally thoughtful and kind with people, putting people’s needs first and continuously looking at ways in which they could improve people’s quality of life. People received extremely person-centred care. In particular, relatives commented on the tremendous love, empathy and understanding displayed by staff when caring for people who were approaching the end of their life and how this had helped them. Staff consistently treated people with respect and maintained their privacy and dignity. One person said, "My opinion is that if you get to live here, you are one of the lucky ones.”

Staff were completely dedicated to helping people live as happy and fulfilled lives as possible. This included access to a huge range of activities and extensive community links which had resulted in mutually beneficial friendships with different groups. There was a real sense of community with people and relatives using the word 'family' to describe relationships between other people and staff in the service.

Everyone spoke extremely positively about the registered manager who led by example and was passionate and fully committed to providing people with excellent quality care. They constantly looked for ways to improve the service and had effective systems in place to monitor the quality of the service. Professionals were unanimous in their praise of the extremely high standards of care provided. They described the excellent joint working arrangements they had with staff which had resulted in positive outcomes for people.

Staff understood how to manage any risks to people and knew the processes to follow to manage any allegations of abuse. People’s health care and nutritional needs were well managed and they received their medicines when they needed them.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

There were enough staff to meet people’s needs and recruitment processes ensured staff were suitable to work at the service. Staff were trained and had the required skills to meet people’s needs. Staff told us they loved their jobs and felt well supported.

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 good (published 29 June 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.