About the service Heatherbrook is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to 34 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 45 people. The premises are a purpose-built care home built over three floors. Only the first two floors are used for the provision of care.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Procedures were in place to help protect people from the risk of abuse, and staff understood their responsibility for safeguarding people. Risk assessments were in place which provided guidance about how to support people in a safe way. There were enough staff working at the service to meet people's needs and robust staff recruitment practices were in place. The service sought to learn lessons when accidents and incidents occurred. Steps had been taken to protect people from the risk of infection. Medicines were mostly managed safely.
People's needs were assessed before they commenced using the service to ensure those needs could be met. Staff received training and supervision to support them in carrying out their role effectively. The design and layout of the building was suitable for the people using it. People had a choice of what they ate and drank. The service worked with other agencies and professionals to support people's health care needs. 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.
People told us staff were kind and caring and treated them respectfully. Staff had a good understanding of how to promote people's privacy, dignity and independence. The provider sought to meet people's needs in relation to equality and diversity.
Care plans were in place which set out how to meet people's needs. People and their relatives were involved in developing these plans. People had access to a range of social and leisure activities, and we saw people enjoying these on the day of our inspection. Complaints procedures were in place. Information was provided in various formats to help make it accessible to people. End of life care plans were in place and the provider worked with other agencies to meet people's needs at the end of their lives.
Quality assurance and monitoring systems were in place to help drive improvements at the service. Some of these included seeking the views of people who used the service and others. The service had links with other agencies to help develop best 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 good (published 13 September 2017). Since this rating was awarded the registered provider of the service has changed. We have used the previous rating to inform our planning and decisions about the rating at this inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
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.