Heritage Care Centre

Updated 31 August 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.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

Service and service type

Heritage Care Centre 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.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection took place on 26 and 28 July 2022 and 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 health professionals who work 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 in person with the proposed manager, regional manager and quality assurance team. We spoke with eleven people using the service, four relatives, 12 staff and two health care professionals to get their experience and views about the care provided. We reviewed a range of records. They included staff rotas, recruitment, training and supervision, people’s care and medicine records, risk assessments, care plans and reviews and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits, quality assurance, policies and procedures.

Updated 31 August 2022

About the service

Heritage Care Centre is a care homeprovides nursing and personal care for up to 72 older people. At the time of our inspection there were 68 people using the service including those living with dementia. The care home accommodates people in four units, two on the ground floor and two on the first floor.

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

We found, and people and their relatives told us that they felt Heritage Care Centre was a safe place to live and staff thought it was a safe place to work. Risks to people were regularly assessed and reviewed. This enabled them to take acceptable risks, enjoy their lives and live safely. Accidents, incidents and safeguarding concerns were reported, investigated and recorded. There were appropriately recruited staff in suitable numbers to meet people’s needs. Medicines were safely administered. The home used Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) effectively and safely and the infection prevention and control policy was up to date.

The home’s previous registered manager had retired, and interim cover had been put in place by the provider. This meant that whilst the management and leadership were transparent and had an open, positive and honest culture, the staff did not always experience the same level of support they had previously. This was because different managers had different styles and this led to some confusion for staff. A new manager had been identified who was very familiar with the home and registered as a manager at another home in the organisation. They were commencing in post in the very near future. The organisation’s vision and values were clearly set out, understood by staff and followed. Areas of responsibility and accountability were identified, and a good service maintained and reviewed. Audits were thoroughly carried out and records kept up to date. Community links and working partnerships were established and kept up to minimise social isolation, where possible. Healthcare professionals said that the service was well managed and met people’s needs in a professional, friendly and open way.

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.

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 outstanding (published 27 December 2018). The overall rating for the service has deteriorated to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding.

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.

We did not inspect the key questions of effective, caring and responsive.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

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

Follow up

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