Hamelin

Updated 18 September 2018

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 was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the home under the Care Act 2014.

This unannounced comprehensive inspection took place on 24 July 2018. The inspection team consisted of one adult social care 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 home.

Prior to the inspection, we reviewed the Provider Information Record (PIR) and previous inspection reports. The PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the home, what the home does well and improvements they plan to make. We also reviewed the information we held about the home. This included previous inspection reports and statutory notifications we had received. A statutory notification contains information about significant events that affect people's safety, which the provider is required to send to us by law.

During the inspection, we met with five people living at the home as well as four members of staff, the registered manager and a senior manager [provider’s representative]. We asked the local authority who commissions with the home for their views on the care and support given by the home and received feedback from three healthcare professionals. Following the inspection, we received feedback from four relatives.

To help us assess and understand how people's care needs were being met, we reviewed three people’s care records. We looked at the medication administration records and systems for administering people’s medicines. We also looked at records relating to the management of the home: these included four staff recruitment files, training records and systems for monitoring the quality of the services provided.

Updated 18 September 2018

This unannounced inspection took place on 24 July 2018. Hamelin is a small care home that provides accommodation, personal care and support to a maximum of seven people of working age who are experiencing severe and enduring mental health conditions.

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. At the time of the inspection there were seven people living at the home. Hamelin belongs to a group of homes owned by The Community of St Antony and St Elias. The homes act as a community with group activities and group management meetings and oversight.

At our last inspection in March 2016 we rated Hamelin overall as good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the home has not changed since our last inspection.

People received a service that was safe. The registered manager and staff understood their role and responsibilities to keep people safe from harm, protect people from any type of discrimination and ensure people's rights were protected. Risks had been appropriately assessed and staff had been provided with information on how to support people safely. There were enough staff to meet people's needs and checks were carried out on staff before they started work to assess their suitability.

People were protected from the risks associated with unsafe medicine administration. The home was clean, maintained and people were protected from the risk and/or spread of infection as staff had access to personal protective equipment (PPE) and received training in infection control.

The home was effective in meeting people's needs. People’s health and wellbeing were promoted and protected as the home recognised the importance of seeking advice from community health and social care professionals. People were supported to eat a healthy balanced diet. Staff were knowledgeable about how to provide effective care and support. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff support them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the home support this practice.

People received a service that was caring and they were supported by staff who knew them well. People were actively involved in making decisions about their care and support. Staff were passionate about their role and treated people with dignity and respect. People continued to have control over their lives and were free to come and go from the home as they pleased.

The home was responsive to people's needs. Care and support was personalised which ensured people were able to make choices about their day to day lives. Activities were important to people's quality of life at the home and staff ensured people had the opportunity to take part in one-to-one activities both in the home and the wider community. People were aware of how to make a complaint and felt able to raise concerns if something was not right.

People benefitted from a home that was well led. People, relatives and staff were positive about the leadership of the home and told us the management team were open and approachable. The provider had systems in place to review, monitor and improve the quality of service provided. This included a programme of audits and checks, reviewing medicines management, quality of care records, support to staff and environmental health and safety checks.

We have made two recommendations one in relation to the provider’s recruitment systems and one in relation to staff training. Further information is in the detailed findings below.