Housman Care Ltd

Updated 12 January 2024

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The service was inspected by 2 inspectors. on 15 November and 1 inspector on 22 November 2023.

Service and service type

Housman is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Housman is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. A new manager had been in post and had submitted an application to register. We are currently assessing this application.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

Inspection activity started on 15 November and ended on 28 November 2023. We visited the location’s service on 15 and 22 November 2023.

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 and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 5 people who used the service. We also spoke with 7 staff including the manager, care staff, maintenance, kitchen staff and the Nominated Individual. The Nominated Individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We also spoke with he provider. We reviewed a range of records including 7 people's care files, and multiple medicine records. We looked at 3 staff files and 4 agency profiles in relation to recruitment.

A variety of records relating to the management of the service including, quality checks, policy and procedures, and health and safety were examined.

We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

Updated 12 January 2024

About the service

Housman Care is a purpose built residential care home providing accommodation for older adults who require nursing or personal care for up to 30 people. At the time of our inspection there were 26 people using the service. The service provides support to older people who may also be living with dementia.

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

People were not always treated with dignity and respect. People’s personal care was not always delivered in line with their assessed needs.

People did not always receive personalised care. For example, where a person had expressed feeling unwell, action had not been taken in a timely manner to address the persons concerns.

Whilst some improvements had been made to the way the service was managed, systems needed to become established and embedded in the service.

Systems were not always effective in assessing and managing risk or monitoring the quality of people’s care. Assessments and care plans were detailed, however care records were not always reflective of the care that people received.

Medicines were stored safely, some improvement was needed to how they monitored some medicines.

There were systems to safeguard people from abuse and staff understood their responsibilities to keep people safe.

Feedback from people and relatives was positive, one person told us, “They are nice to me here.” A relative said, “They are wonderful here you could not wish for a better place.”

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.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 11 May 2023).

The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.

At this inspection we found some improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulation 12 (safe care) but were in breach of regulation 10 (dignity and respect) and regulation 17 (governance).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about medicines, management and staffing. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Following the inspection visit the provider has taken steps to address the reduce the risks identified during the inspection.

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

Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to dignity and respect and governance at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.