Havering Court Care Home

Updated 16 January 2024

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.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector, a specialist nursing advisor, and two medicines inspectors.

Service and service type

Havering Court Care Home is a ‘care home’ in which people 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.

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

The inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we already held about the service. This included feedback from professionals and notifications. A notification is information about important events, which the provider is required to tell us about by law. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We carried out observations of people’s care and support and spoke with 4 people for their feedback on the home and 1 relative, who was visiting their family member.

We spoke with the registered manager, the regional director, a regional support manager and a deputy manager. We also spoke with 10 nursing and care staff, 3 members of domestic and laundry staff and 2 kitchen staff.

We reviewed documents and records that related to people’s care and the management of the service. We reviewed 9 people's care plans, which included risk assessments. We looked at other documents such as those for medicine management, staff training and recruitment, infection control and quality assurance. After the inspection we spoke with 2 relatives by telephone for further feedback about the service.

Updated 16 January 2024

About the service

Havering Court Care Home is a care home registered to provide nursing and personal care to people, aged 18 years and over, who may have mental health needs, acquired brain injuries, learning disabilities, physical disabilities and sensory impairments. It can support up to 52 people. At the time of the inspection, 49 people were living at the home. The home has two floors with adapted facilities and en-suite rooms.

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

The service was not always safe because medicines were not managed safely and people were at risk of not receiving their medicines as prescribed. People were not always supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not always support this practice. Systems and processes to protect people from the risk of abuse were in place. Risks to people’s safety were assessed. People and relatives told us staff were respectful and caring. Staff followed infection control procedures and people were protected from the risk of infections.

Right Care

Staff had received up to date training and development to maintain their skills and knowledge. People's dignity, privacy and human rights were respected. People were encouraged to maintain a healthy balanced diet and were provided food and drink that met their preferences and needs. Staff knew people who used the service well and they provided care and support to them in a kind and compassionate way. Care plans were informative and provided guidance on how to meet people's needs. People and their relatives were positive about the management team and could approach them with any concerns.

Right Culture

Leaders and the culture they created did not always support the delivery of high-quality care. The provider had systems in place to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the services provided but they were not used effectively to identify some of the shortfalls in the home. The registered manager took action to make improvements to the service following our inspection.

People were offered a range of activities that were engaging and meaningful. People and relatives were contacted for their feedback about the service. Staff told us they were supported by the management team and received supervision to discuss their performance. People and relatives were positive about the home. There was a positive culture and equality, diversity, inclusion and human rights were promoted in the home.

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 the service was Good (report published 16 March 2021).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part by notification of an incident following which a person using the service died. This incident is subject to further investigation by CQC as to whether any regulatory action should be taken. As a result, this inspection did not examine the circumstances of the incident. However, the information shared with CQC about the incident indicated potential concerns about the management of risks around eating and drinking. This inspection examined those risks.

We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, effective, caring 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.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to the safe care and treatment of people, need for consent to care and good governance at this inspection. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Full information about CQC's regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.