Archived: Hailey House Residential Care Home

Hailey House Residential Care Home provides a service for up to 20 older people. On the day of our inspection there were 18 people living at the service.

There was a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People were safe as the service had comprehensive systems in place for monitoring and managing risks to promote people's health and wellbeing. There were suitable arrangements in place for medication to be stored and administered safely.

There were sufficient numbers of staff with the relevant skills and knowledge to effectively meet people's needs.

People had input from family members where they needed support to make relevant decisions about their life. Where appropriate, mental capacity assessments had been undertaken. This ensured that any decisions taken on behalf of people were in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and associated codes of practice.

People were supported to maintain their health as they had regular access to a wide range of healthcare professionals. A choice of food and drink was available that reflected people's nutritional needs, and took into account their preferences and any health requirements.

Staff had good relationships with people and were attentive to their needs. People's privacy and dignity was respected at all times. People were treated with kindness and respect by staff who knew them well and who listened and respected their views and preferences. People were encouraged to follow their interests and were supported to keep in contact with their family and friends.

There was a strong management team who encouraged an open culture that listened to people and staff. Staff enjoyed working at the service and felt that they were included in the running of the service and that their views were valued. The management team had robust systems in place to ensure the quality and safety of the service, learn from complaints and feedback and to drive improvements.

The summary below describes what people using the service, a relative and the staff told us, what we observed and the records we looked at.

If you want to see the evidence that supports our summary please read the full report.

This is a summary of what we found:

Is the service safe?

People's needs had been assessed and individual care plans drawn up to meet people's needs. These assessments and plans included consideration of risks to the person and how these could be managed to keep the person safe.

There were arrangements in place to deal with foreseeable emergencies. We were told by staff members we spoke with that they were able to contact a manager when they needed to.

We found that people were protected from the risk of abuse because the provider had ensured that safeguarding policies and procedures were in place and available to staff. Staff had been trained in safeguarding and knew what to do in the event of abuse being suspected, witnessed or alleged.

There were enough staff on duty to meet the needs of the people living at the home.

People we spoke with told us there were enough staff to meet their needs. A relative we talked with also told us there were enough staff to meet their relative's needs.

CQC monitors the operation of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards which applies to care homes. While no applications have needed to be submitted, proper policies and procedures were in place. Relevant staff had been trained to understand when an application should be made, and how to submit one.

Is the service effective?

People told us they were happy with the care and support they received and felt their needs had been met. It was clear from what we saw and from speaking with staff that they understood people's care and support needs and that they knew them well.

We saw people being cared for and supported in accordance with their plans. Staff had received training to meet the needs of the people living at the home.

One person who had an upstairs room was keen to move downstairs to make it easier to get around. The manager of the home was working with the person, their family and social worker to ensure the home could continue to meet their changing needs, whilst waiting for a downstairs room to become available.

We found that people had been involved in drawing up and agreeing to the care and support they received. We saw that written consent was in place for personal care and for medical treatment.

Is the service caring?

People were cared for and supported by kind and attentive staff. We saw staff talking with people in a kind, calm and respectful manner. We observed staff supporting people to move about the home with patience and consideration.

Staff we spoke with were knowledgeable about the individual needs of people. Staff told us they felt it was important to support people to remain as independent as possible. One staff member said, "We try to make sure people are able to be as independent as they can".

People we spoke with told us, "Staff are lovely, kind and attentive" and, "I can't fault the staff". A relative told us they were happy with the way their relative was cared for and supported.

Is the service responsive?

People's needs had been assessed before they moved into the home. We found that each person's needs were regularly reviewed with care plans updated when needed. Records showed that people were supported in line with these plans.

People had access to activities that were important to them and had been supported to maintain relationships with their friends and relatives.

One person we spoke told us, 'My razor broke this morning and they've fixed it already, looking smart is important to me'.

Is the service well-led?

We found that quality assurance processes were in place. People's views had been obtained by the provider along with the views of relatives and staff.

People told us "This is a well run home with excellent staff". Staff told us, "The manager is very supportive" and "There's a great team here". An agency worker told us, 'This is one of the best homes I've worked in, there is a homely atmosphere and the people and staff are lovely'.

Staff we spoke with told us they thought the manager and assistant manager were excellent role models in treating people who lived at the home and their relatives with respect. The manager told us the owner of the home was supportive and visited the home regularly.

We found that staff received training and the manager was able to provide evidence that most of the staff held vocational qualifications relevant to their role. Staff told us they were clear about their roles and responsibilities.

Staff treated people with respect and worked in ways that maintained people's privacy and dignity. People told us they had choices in all areas of their daily lives and that staff supported them to maintain their independence.

Staff had received training in how to ensure that vulnerable people were kept safe from harm and abuse. They demonstrated that they knew what constituted abuse and to whom they would report any concerns.

A quality assurance system was in place, which included gaining the views of people who lived at the home and their relatives. Staff also felt that their views were sought and that they were listened to. One member of staff told us, 'It's a lovely place to work.'

People told us how much they liked the staff. One person said, 'The staff are all lovely and they treat you well. They're really kind.' However, we found that there were not always enough staff on duty, which meant that people's needs were not always fully met.

During our visit we found people's likes, dislikes and preferences in relation to their care to be well documented. We saw that people received an assessment of their needs and these were being updated in the cases we looked at. We found that staff were receiving supervision and completing a program of training to assist them in completing their roles effectively. In general, we saw the environment was clean and adequate infection control procedures were in place and adhered to by staff.

We found that the service had a complaints system in place and where people had any concerns they were recorded and responded to appropriately.

One person said of Hailey House Residential Care Home: "I'm happy here. I get along well here and don't have any problems." Another person said: "There's a lot of good about living here. There's a lot of fun."