Heron View Care Home

Heron View Care Home is a care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 35 people. The service provides support to people with mental health needs, neurocognitive conditions and acquired brain injury. At the time of our inspection there were 35 people using the service.

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

People were safe at the service. Staff knew how to safeguard people from abuse and how to report safeguarding concerns to the appropriate agencies. Staff were provided appropriate training to help them reduce safety risks to people. They demonstrated good understanding of risks to people’s safety and wellbeing and the action they should take to help keep people safe.

The service was clean and hygienic. Staff followed current infection control and hygiene practice to reduce the risk of infection. People’s relatives and friends were free to visit without any unnecessary restrictions.

Regular health and safety checks of the premises and equipment were undertaken to make sure these were safe. Medicines were managed safely. People were supported to take their medicines as prescribed.

There were enough staff to support people and meet their needs. The provider carried out recruitment and criminal records checks to make sure staff were suitable to support people. Staff were well supported by managers and encouraged to improve their working practice when required.

People were satisfied with the care and support they received from staff. People’s views were sought about how the service could improve and the provider acted on these.

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.

There was no registered manager in post at the time of this inspection. However, a new home manager had been appointed for the service. The home manager was suitably experienced, understood how people’s needs should be met and had good oversight of the service.

There were systems in place to monitor and review the safety and quality of the service. Accidents and incidents were fully investigated and learning from these was shared with staff to help them improve the quality and safety of the support provided.

The provider worked proactively with healthcare professionals involved in people’s care and acted on their recommendations to deliver care and support that met people’s needs.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was good (published 29 July 2019).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the safety and quality of the care and support provided to people. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe 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.

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 good, based on the findings of this inspection. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from the concerns we received.

Follow up

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

Heron View Care Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care for up to 12 younger and older adults some of whom have mental health needs. There were nine people living at the service at the time of our inspection. Heron View Care Home accommodates people on the ground floor of one adapted building situated on a residential road. The service is wheelchair accessible from street level and throughout.

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

People received their care from vetted and suitable staff who were deployed in sufficient numbers to keep people safe. The provider had a clear safeguarding policy which had been followed to protect people. Risks to people were assessed and mitigated to reduce the possibility of them experiencing avoidable harm. Medicines were administered appropriately.

People’s needs were assessed and met by staff who were trained and supervised. People received the support they required to eat and drink. 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. People accessed health services whenever they needed to.

Staff were caring. People’s dignity was protected by staff and their independence was promoted. People and staff shared positive relationships and visitors were made to feel welcome at the service.

Personalised care records were in place. The staff were still learning the skills and knowledge needed to respond effectively to people’s behavioural needs. Information was accessible to people and activities were being developed for people. Staff supported people around their spiritual needs and the service was capable of caring for people with end of life needs.

The service was well-led. Staff felt supported in their roles. People, relatives and staff contributed their views to shape the service. The quality of care and support people received was monitored through quality audits. The service worked collaboratively with other agencies and organisations, in particular the service drew upon the expertise that healthcare professionals provided.

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 16 July 2018 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection.

Follow up

We 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.

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