Archived: Hesslewood House

Updated 24 December 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. 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 first day of inspection was conducted by four inspectors, and the second day was conducted by two inspectors. On day one, CQC were accompanied by an infection control nurse from the local Clinical Commissioning Group.

Service and service type

Hesslewood House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or 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.

The service had a manager registered with CQC. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

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 who works with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with six people who used the service and a relative about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with two visiting health and social care professionals. We spoke with eleven members of staff including the registered manager, the regional manager, regional support manager, deputy clinical manager, home administrator, two nurses and two care workers.

We looked at records related to people's care and the management of the service. We viewed care records relating to six people, medication records, two staff recruitment and induction files, training information, staff rotas and records used to monitor the quality and safety of the service.

After the inspection

We spoke to the registered manager and regional support manager via video call and continued to review evidence from the inspection.

Updated 24 December 2021

Hesslewood House is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to 48 people at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 66 people. One unit of the home provides nursing care, one unit provides residential care and the other specialises in supporting people living with dementia.

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

People received care from staff who were caring and responsive, but improvements were needed to aspects of medicines management, record keeping and risk management. We have made a recommendation about quality assurance processes, to ensure they are more effective in identifying and addressing shortfalls.

There was a system in place to make sure there were enough staff to meet people’s needs and agency staff were used to cover any gaps. The provider was taking action to try and recruit more staff, to help improve consistency of care. People were supported by staff who were safely recruited and vetted.

Improvements had been made to infection control practices in the home. Work was underway at the time of our inspection to make improvements to the environment, to support with effective hygiene practices.

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.

The registered manager promoted a positive culture and staff felt supported. Staff worked with health and social care professionals to meet people’s needs.

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

Rating at last inspection:

The last rating for this service was good (published 25 April 2020).

Why we inspected:

We received concerns in relation to infection control and risk management. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection. We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvement. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report. The provider took action straightaway to respond to our feedback and continue working on their own action plan.

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

Follow up:

We will work with the local authority to monitor progress and will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.