• Care Home
  • Care home

Hawkhurst House Proactive Assessment Unit

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Hawkhurst House, Cranbrook Road, Hawkhurst, Cranbrook, Kent, TN18 5EF (01580) 239175

Provided and run by:
Hawkhurst House PAU Limited

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Date of assessment: 29 and 30 October 2025. The service is a residential nursing home providing accommodation, nursing and personal care for older people and people living with dementia. The service provides an assessment unit for people leaving hospital or people requiring short term respite care. The service can support 31 people on 1 level. There were 30 people living in the service at the time of inspection.

This inspection was prompted in part by concerns received by CQC about potential poor care and neglect, which included malnourishment and skin care. We did not find any specific concerns in these areas and found that people were generally well cared for, their needs were met, and people and their relatives were happy with the care and support they received.

We found there some minor areas for improvement however we found no impact on people’s health and care. These included how records were documented and updated.

The recording of individual risk management needed some improvement, including learning lessons from incidents, however this did not impact people’s care . Staff knew people well and were aware of their responsibilities in keeping people safe. Staff responded to people’s needs and supported their independence.

There were enough staff to meet people’s needs and staff had received training and supervision to develop their skills and provide safe and responsive care. Medicines were managed well on the whole. Some minor concerns were rectified during the inspection visits. Staff understood their role and responsibilities to make sure people were safeguarded from abuse.

Staff told us they were happy working at Hawkhurst House Proactive Assessment Unit. They said the registered manager was approachable and they felt confident in raising concerns if they had them and they would be listened to.

The leadership team had recently changed so changes to systems and policies were in the process of being introduced. This meant there was a mixture of governance accountability processes in place, however, we were assured management and leadership oversight had continued during the transition.
 

3 May 2023

During a routine inspection

About the service

Hawkhurst House Proactive Reablement Unit (PRU) is a care home providing accommodation with personal and / or nursing care for up to 31 people. The service is split into two areas. One area mainly provides short term nursing care for people awaiting assessments of ongoing care and support needs from health and social care teams. The other area provides a short-term rehabilitation service with the aim of preparing people to return home to live independently. In the last 3-month period 27 people had been admitted to the service. At the time of our inspection there were 16 people using the service. The service was arranged across one floor and people had access to communal lounges, dining room and a fully equipped gymnasium to support people to return to their maximum mobility where possible.

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

People told us they felt safe and were happy in Hawkhurst House PRU. One person said, “Oh yes, I do feel safe here.” Another person told us, “There are so many good things, the staff are very kind and will always help. I don’t think you can improve it.” Relatives agreed their loved ones were safe.

Medicines were managed well, and lessons were learned when things went wrong. The service had good infection control measures in place. There were enough staff deployed to safely meet peoples’ needs. Staff had received appropriate training, including additional training in reablement skills.

People received care in a respectful manner which promoted their dignity and encouraged independence. Privacy was maintained and people told us staff asked for their consent before supporting with personal care or other tasks. One person told us, “The staff are very friendly and respectful.”

People enjoyed the food and their dietary needs and preferences were met. People told us the menu was varied and they had choices, but if they wanted something else they could just ask. People told us they were offered drinks throughout the day and staff always asked them what they wanted.

Doctors visited the service several times a week and people were supported by physiotherapists or occupational therapists if this was required. There were regular team meetings with other health and social care professionals.

There were quality assurance processes in place to monitor the service and regular audits were undertaken in areas such as, infection control and medicines. People and staff told us the registered manager was supportive and approachable with an open-door policy and the service was well managed.

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.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 18 January 2022, and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about the 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 the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.