Little Haven

Updated 27 June 2024

Date of assessment 8 August and 11 September 2024. This assessment was carried out in response to information we had received about the service. Little Haven is a care home with nursing for up to 43 people. At the time of our assessment 40 people were using the service. We assessed a small number of quality statements from the safe and well led key questions. We have combined the scores for these areas with scores from the last inspection to give the rating for this assessment. We found a number of areas of good practice and other areas where further improvements needed to be embedded. The registered manager and home manager are taking action to address these. Safety related events were used as an opportunity to put things right, learn and improve but there needed to be a more robust system in place for reviewing accidents and incidents periodically to look for themes and trends that could improve care for others. Some care plans and risk assessments contained conflicting information or described measures to monitor risks which were not consistently being followed in practice. A clinical risk register was completed weekly which recorded information about a range of risks including weight loss, fluid intake, skin integrity and falls risk to monitor people’s health. The interactions we observed were caring with staff interacting with people in person centred way. The home was a busy home and people, and staff told us there were times when the staff team were stretched. We were assured the provider was continuing to keep this under review. Overall, medicines were managed safely and records indicated that people received their medicines as prescribed. Whilst there were quality assurance and governance arrangements in place, some of these needed to be used more effectively to help the leadership team identify and address shortfalls. The leadership team were committed to their role, and to embracing changes and delivering improvements.

Updated 27 June 2024

People told us they felt safe at Little Haven. One person said, “It’s a good place to be, I feel very safe”, and another told us, “Its lovely here, I don’t have any worries, I know they will sort me out.” People felt staff supported them to stay well and to manage risks such as falls or to keep their skin healthy. One person told us they were at the service to get their independence back after being in hospital. They said, “When I first arrived there were problems with my balance and they fiddled around with my tablets, but they have got it right now, I can walk with my frame.” We received mixed feedback about staffing levels. Everyone spoke positively about the attentiveness of staff, but some felt there were times when they needed to wait too long for support. People and their relatives’ felt staff were, overall, well trained and we received lots of positive feedback about the skills and person centred approach of the permanent staff. One person told us, “I am extremely happy here, the staff are kind, caring and well trained, they are very thorough.” This person told us how staff had put her at ease when she first arrived at the home, meeting their needs professionally and sensitively. Relatives told us they felt welcomed, and this was confirmed by a person who told us, “They say this is my home and they are my family so they can come whenever they want.” People and their relatives told us the home was well managed. One person told us, “The management are very friendly, they never make you feel a nuisance, they treat you like a human being” and another said, “I know the managers, they’ll come and talk to you if a carer can’t deal with something, they are very approachable.” While the people we spoke to expressed that they were happy with their care, our assessment found some areas where further improvements could be made. The provider is taking action to address these. There is further detail about this in the quality statement narratives below.