Archived: Hollins Bank Care Home

Updated 11 May 2016

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 is 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 service under the Care Act 2014.

The inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector.

Prior to our unannounced inspection on 23 March 2016, we reviewed the information we held about Hollins Bank. This included notifications we had received from the provider, about incidents that affect the health, safety and welfare of people who lived at the home. We checked safeguarding alerts, comments and concerns received about the home. At the time of our inspection, the provider was working with the Local Authority’s investigation into ongoing safeguarding concerns.

We spoke with a range of people about the home. They included three members of the management team, a staff member and one person who lived at the home. We also spoke with the commissioning department at the local authority. We did this to gain an overview of what people experienced whilst living at the home. They told us they were closely monitoring the service to check improvements were being made to people’s safety and welfare.

We also spent time observing staff interactions with people who lived at the home and looked at records. We checked documents in relation to four staff files. We reviewed records and systems related to the recruitment of staff.

Updated 11 May 2016

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 27 October 2015. At which a breach of legal requirements were found. This was because the provider had not operated safe, consistent recruitment procedures. The provider had failed to obtain required checks prior to employing personnel that worked with people who lived at the home.

After the comprehensive inspection, the provider wrote to us to say what they would do to meet legal requirements in relation to the breach. We undertook a focused inspection on 23 March 2016 to check they had followed their plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements.

This report only covers our findings in relation to the latest inspection. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for ‘Hollins Bank Care Home’ on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Hollins Bank provides care and support for a maximum of 44 older people, some of whom may have physical disabilities or sensory impairment. The Home is situated in a residential area of Blackpool. It offers single and shared accommodation over two floors. Garden areas to the front and rear are accessible for wheelchair users via a ramp. Communal space is accommodated in three lounges and a dining room.

A registered manager was not in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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. We saw evidence that the provider was in the process of registering a new manager.

During this inspection, we found the provider had taken action to ensure suitable staff were recruited. They were making ongoing improvements to related systems in place, including implementation of a new staff file audit form.

Staff files we reviewed contained Disclosure and Barring Service checks, references and reviews of the employee’s work history. On discussing recruitment with one staff member, they told us, “It was thorough, very thorough.”

Newly recruited staff had received an induction to underpin their skills in working with vulnerable people. One person who lived at the home told us, “I like the new staff. They’ve fitted in really well.” The management team assured us they were continuing to improve their policy and recruitment processes in the employment of suitable staff.

We could not improve the rating for safe from requires improvement because to do so requires consistent good practice over time. We will check this during our next planned Comprehensive inspection.