Updated 21 May 2019
The inspection:
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team:
The inspection team consisted of an inspector, an assistant inspector 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. Our expert by experience’s area of expertise was the care of older people.
Service and service type:
Hickathift House is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection:
The inspection was unannounced.
What we did:
We reviewed the information we held about the service. This included information received from the provider about deaths, accidents/incidents and safeguarding alerts which they are required to send us by law. We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once a year to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We requested feedback from the local authority that pays for the care of some of the people living at Hickathrift House.
During the inspection visit we spoke with six people using the service and four people’s relatives. Some people were not able to tell us in detail about their experiences of living at Hickathrift House. We therefore spent time observing staff working with and supporting people in communal areas of the home using the short observational framework for inspection (SOFI). We also spoke with a visiting district nurse and an advanced nurse practioner.
Staff we spoke with included:
The registered manager
The deputy manager
The head chef and the head house keeper
Two team leaders
A senior carer and a carer
We looked at three people’s care records. We also looked at other records relating to the management of the service including staffing, accidents and incidents, medicines and quality assurance.