Herne Place Care Home

Updated 25 February 2023

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

This inspection was carried out by 2 inspectors.

Service and service type

Herne Place Care Home 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. Herne Place is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. A new manager had been recruited and had submitted an application to register. We are currently assessing this application.

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 and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 4 people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 7 members of staff including the manager, deputy manager, community leads, seniors and care workers. We completed a range of observations throughout the day to look at staff practice. We reviewed a range of records. This included 4 people’s care records and multiple medication records. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 25 February 2023

About the service

Herne Place Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care to 62 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 66 people with personal care relating to their health conditions, such as dementia, and frailty of old age.

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

We found shortfalls in the records the service held regarding risks to people. These shortfalls had been identified by the services own internal audits and checks before our inspection and progress was being made to ensure these were updated as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The manager told us there had been staffing issues in recent months and had to use agency staff, however, new staff had been recruited and recruitment remained ongoing. Staff had been recruited safely and appropriate checks made of their suitability for the position.

People were supported by staff who knew how to safeguard them by recognising signs of abuse or harm. Staff understood their responsibilities to record and report these concerns to their line manager. Safeguarding alerts had been raised to the local authority teams in accordance with the providers policy.

Staff supported people to stay as safe as possible and minimise the risk of infections. Staff had access to Personal Protective Equipment and had completed infection control training.

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.

Staff spoke positively of the change in culture and atmosphere since the manager had arrived in their post. The manager and deputy manager were open and honest throughout inspection regarding any identified shortfalls and developed actions to take to improve these.

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 8 November 2021)

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to staffing and records. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. 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 good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. The provider started to make changes before our inspection and will continue to ensure improvements are made. We will be updated on the progress of these as required.

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.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Herne Place Care Home 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.