The Hawthorns Care Centre

The Hawthorns Care Centre is a nursing home which provides accommodation for 73 people. The service provides support to older people, some of whom were living with dementia. At the time of our inspection they were providing care for 66 people. The service accommodates people in one adapted building over three floors.

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

We found that medicines were not always managed safely throughout the service. Some aspects of health and safety and environmental risks in the home were not always managed effectively.

The leadership and governance of the home required improvement to ensure audits were effective in promoting improvement and identifying risks. Quality assurance measures in place were not always robust, some issues identified on inspection were not appropriately identified. The registered manager has acted upon feedback from this inspection and was putting plans in place to address the issues identified.

Staff did not always receive training or training updates relevant to their role. This included training in; end of life care, oral health and person-centred care. Some staff did not have training for specific conditions.

Care plans were personalised and contained information about people's history, and personal preferences. People's risk assessments and care plans were reviewed monthly, however some areas of the care plans contained inconsistent or missing information which was not always identified during the audit process.

Activities in the home were limited, particularly for people who were less able to participate in group activities. Further work was required to reduce the risk of people experiencing social isolation through personalised activities.

People and their relatives said that staff were caring and kind. We observed staff were patient and compassionate towards people.

Mental Capacity Act

People were not supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not support 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 and update

The last rating for the service under the previous provider was Good, published on 23 October 2017.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

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.

The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Hawthorns Care Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, need for consent and good governance at this inspection. We have made recommendations in training and activities.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

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