Himley Manor Care Home

Updated 12 January 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 inspection was carried out by two inspectors, who visited the home on the 26 November 2020. The inspectors then continued to make calls to relatives, staff and healthcare professionals from 27 November to 03 December 2020.

Service and service type

Himley Manor 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 did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) at the time of this inspection. A new manager was in place and they confirmed they will be submitting an application to register with CQC. This means the provider is 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 inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority. We did not ask for a 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 this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with four care assistants, one senior care assistant and the cook. We also spoke with the manager and the provider. We spoke with four relatives of people living at the home by telephone.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment. We also looked at medication records; the complaints record and checks and audits that related to the management and quality assurance of the service.

After the inspection

The provider supplied us with additional information as requested including some of the audits completed, the managers’ report and training information.

Updated 12 January 2021

About the service

Himley Manor is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care people for up to 51 people aged 65 and over. At the time of the inspection 30 people were living at the home. The accommodation is provided over two floors each of which has its own communal areas.

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

Since the last inspection there had been a change in the management team. We found that this meant that improvements found at the last inspection had not been fully embedded and the provider was now in breach of regulations.

This inspection found that people's care plans did not comprehensively reflect their current risks and improvements were needed to ensure people were supported to stay safe. Care plans would also benefit from more personalised information on the support required by individual people.

The provider had quality monitoring systems in place, however, this inspection found they did not always identify issues and ensure that action was taken in a timely way.

People received support to take their medicines. People were supported by staff who were aware of how to safeguard people from abuse and had good knowledge on how to recognise and respond to concerns.

Appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) was made available by the provider and worn by staff. Following recent concerns, the provider had worked with the local authority to ensure government COVID-19 guidelines were followed as required.

Staff and relatives told us that activities that are socially and culturally relevant to people could be improved. Relatives also told us that communication to support people maintain relationships important to them could be improved; especially during the pandemic. The provider told us of the improvements they had planned for activities and communication.

People and relatives said staff were caring and we saw positive interactions that supported this. Staff told us they could talk to manager for advice and support and felt confident any concerns they raised would be acted on.

Since the last inspection there had been a change in the management team. Relatives and healthcare professionals raised concerns about the number of management changes as they felt this impacted on the consistency of the service provided. However, staff, healthcare professionals and relatives all spoke positively about the new manager and the changes she had made in her four weeks in post.

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 on 05 October 2019).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted due to concerns about poor infection prevention and control (IPC) and whistleblowing concerns. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

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 coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. We only looked at safe, responsive and well led during this inspection. We did not look at the key questions of effective and caring. 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 remains as 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, responsive and well led sections of this full report.

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

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to Regulation 12 (safe care and treatment) and Regulation 17 (good governance) at this inspection.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will also request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety.

Following the failings identified at a previous inspection we imposed a positive condition on the providers

registration. It was agreed that this would stay in place and the provider will continue to be required to send monthly reports to CQC on how they are ensuring effective oversight of Himley Manor.

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