Honey Lane Care Home

Updated 18 March 2022

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.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This included checking the provider was meeting COVID-19 vaccination requirements. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

Service and service type

Honey Lane is a ‘care is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and personal care as a 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 a new manager had been appointed who was in the process of registering with CQC.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was 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 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 five people who used the service and three relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with six members of staff including the regional manager, the manager, senior staff and care staff. 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.

After the inspection

We spoke with a further relative following the inspection. We requested additional information related to governance processes in the service.

Updated 18 March 2022

About the service

Honey Lane is care home providing accommodation and personal care to up to 41 people who have needs associated with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 33 people using the service.

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

Staff had received training for safeguarding, and this was updated regularly. Risk assessments were in place to manage potential risks within people's lives. Concerns had been raised as monitoring charts used to mitigate risks to people were not always completed effectively. However, the provider had appointed a new manager and oversight of risk monitoring had recently improved. Minor improvements were needed to medicine processes. Staffing numbers had increased to keep people safe and the provider followed the established recruitment procedures to ensure staff employed were suitable for their role.

People received personalised care and participated in activities, hobbies and events they enjoyed. People told us they knew who to complain to and would feel confident in doing so. We made a recommendation about the review of care plans.

The provider had recognised some aspects of the quality assurance processes had not always been consistent in recognising shortfalls. This had now been addressed and oversight of the service had improved.

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 3 January 2019).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about safeguarding, staffing and risk. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, responsive and well-led only.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively. This included checking the provider was meeting COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has remained the same on the findings of this inspection.

We have found evidence the provider needs to make improvements. Please see safe section of this full report.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.