Archived: High Hurlands Nursing Home

Updated 20 May 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

This inspection was carried out by one inspector, an assistant inspector, a specialist advisor who was a nurse and An Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

High Hurlands Nursing Home 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 had a manager registered with CQC, however, they no longer worked at the service. A registered manager and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. A new acting manager was in place, who told us they intended to register with CQC as manager of the service.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We received feedback from one social worker, who had recent experience working with the service.

During the inspection

People were not able to provide us with verbal feedback about their care; therefore, we used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We spoke with seven relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 13 members of staff, including the provider, manager, quality assurance manager and care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at quality assurance records and an action plan, which the provider had developed to help improve the quality of care.

Updated 20 May 2021

About the service

High Hurlands Nursing Home is a nursing home providing personal and nursing care for up to 22 people with a learning disability, autism and/or associated health needs in a small village on the outskirts of Liphook in Hampshire. At the time of the inspection there were 22 people living at the home.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right Support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

This service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture. People’s care was designed around meeting their health, medical and wellbeing needs. Management and staff displayed a positive ethos that focused on treating people with respect and promoting their choice through supporting people to follow their interests.

Relatives fed back positively about the quality of care their family members received. There was a positive culture at the service, where staff told us that management were approachable and supportive.

The provider had recognised where improvements could be made in the governance of the service. They had employed a new acting management team, who had reviewed the overall quality, safety and governance structure in the home.

Risks related to people’s health and medical conditions were assessed to reduce the risk of harm. Where people had complex health needs, professional input was sought to ensure staff followed best practice.

There were systems in place to ensure people were safely supported to take their medicines as prescribed.

There were systems in place to help ensure people did not suffer abuse or avoidable harm. When incidents took place, the provider investigated these thoroughly to ensure lessons were learnt.

The provider had systems in place to ensure the home was clean and hygienic. They had put additional infection control measures in place to mitigate the risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There were enough staff in place, who were suitably qualified and trained in their role.

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 17 May 2018)

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to staffing, medicines management and the leadership at the service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

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.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

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

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.