The Highviews

Updated 31 August 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

The inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

The Highviews 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. The Highviews 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 a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small and people are often out, and we wanted to be sure there would be people at home to speak with us.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority. 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 5 people about their experience of the service. We observed staff interacting with people and supporting them and we spoke with the registered manager, the operations manager and 2 staff. We looked at records relating to people’s care and the management of the service. Following the inspection, we asked for further information to be sent to us, including, risk assessments, the service improvement plan and training information.

Updated 31 August 2023

The Highviews is a residential care home providing personal care to up to 6 people in an adapted house in a residential area. The service provides support to people with learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder, people with mental health conditions, physical disabilities, sensory impairment, dementia, older people and younger adults. At the time of our inspection there were 6 people using the service.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

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

Right Support: People were being supported by staff to pursue their interests and to achieve their aspirations and goals. People told us their quality of life had improved since the last inspection. One person said, “I go out more now, it’s much better.” Improvements in the quality of risk assessments and care plans meant staff had the information they needed to support people effectively.

Right Care: The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. People were benefitting from a more personalised approach since the last inspection. Staff told us they could spend more time with people.

Right Culture: The service enabled people, and those important to them, to work with staff to develop the service. Staff valued and acted upon people’s views. The registered manager was working with staff to develop an enabling culture based on best practice for supporting people with learning disabilities and/or autism.

The registered manager had implemented a service improvement plan to make changes following the last inspection. New systems were in place and progress was evident, but it was too soon to say improvements were fully embedded and sustained.

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 inadequate (published 6 June 2023) and there were breaches of regulation. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

This service has been in Special Measures since 5 June 2023. During this inspection the provider demonstrated that improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.

Why we inspected

We undertook this focussed inspection to check whether the Warning Notices we previously served in relation to Regulations 17 and 18 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 had been met. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Responsive and Well- led which contain those requirements.

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.

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 inadequate to requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Highviews 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.