Hill Ash House Care Centre

Updated 15 April 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 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

Two inspectors carried out this inspection.

Service and service type

Hill Ash House Care Centre is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Hill Ash House Care Centre is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

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 a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection.

During the inspection

We looked at the premises and observed staff interact with people. We spoke to four people using the service to gain their feedback on the service provided. We spoke to two care staff, one care leader, two housekeepers, one kitchen staff, the registered manager and the owner.

We reviewed four people’s care records including a selection of records relating to medicines administration. We reviewed the recruitment records of three staff. We reviewed records relating to the management of the service, quality monitoring audits and action plans.

After the inspection:

We spoke with three people's relatives. We spoke to the nominated individual.

The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate the evidence found. We looked at the service’s staff training data, quality assurance records, policies and procedures, risk assessments and recruitment processes.

Updated 15 April 2022

About the service

Hill Ash House Care Centre is a 'care home'. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. Hill Ash House Care Centre does not provide nursing.

Hill Ash House Care Centre accommodates 36 people in one adapted building in the village of Dymock. At the time of our inspection there were 28 people living at the home.

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

The service had made improvements in implementing safeguards to ensure safe recruitment practices were followed.

People and their relative spoke positively about the staffing team and the leadership in the home.

People were supported by a consistent staffing team who understood their needs and how to protect them for avoidable harm. Care documentation and risk assessments were in place, which provided staff with guidance on how to meet people's needs and manage identified risks.

People were supported to receive their medicines safely and as prescribed.

People were supported by staff who had been trained and supported to meet their needs.

The service had infection control processes and systems in place to reduce the risk of people contracting COVID-19.

Managers promoted a culture which enabled people, their representatives and staff to feel comfortable in giving feedback, raising a concern or where needed, to make a complaint.

There were quality monitoring systems and processes in place to ensure outcomes for people remained positive and that the service remained compliant with necessary regulations. Since our last inspection we found improvements were made to ensure that audits were fully effective in identifying and addressing quality and safety concerns in areas of infection control and staff recruitment.

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 requires improvement (published 29 October 2021) and there were breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 24 August and 2 September 2021. A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those 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 changed from Requires Improvement to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link 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.