Archived: The Hawthorns Residential Care Home

During our inspection we looked at maintenance records and spoke to staff who were responsible for checking that alarm systems were working in both of the lifts in the home. We talked with care staff and to one person who used the lift. We checked care records as well as other records relating to the maintenance of equipment in the home.

We found that the provider had taken steps to make sure that both lifts were maintained and that there were systems in place to respond to alarms which might be raised as a result of a lift failure.

We inspected the home on this occasion to see if it was now compliant in these areas of care. During the inspection we talked to the people who used the service as well as visitors to the Home. We talked to staff and observed the care that was being provided. We saw how medicines were being administered and looked around the building. We looked at the records of care which were kept by the provider.

We found that the provider had put measures in place which meant that medicines were now administered and stored safely. We saw that the provider had increased the number of staff on duty for a large part of the day time shift and that the benefit of this was felt by the people who used the service. We found that the provider had introduced new measures designed to ensure that care records were complete but we found that certain parts of the records we looked at did not always provide the comprehensive information required to make sure that people were cared for properly.

During our inspection we found that one of the lifts in the home did not work correctly. We have therefore included this in our report.

People told us 'There's nothing here to complain about' and 'They're all very kind ' you can't complain'. Other people said that the Hawthorns Residential Care Home provided was 'marvellous' and 'Everybody's happy here'. A relative told us that 'The staff are really lovely'.

During our inspection we looked throughout the building and at the facilities available. We also looked at the records of care which the provider maintained. This allowed us to check on the way that care was provided.

We saw that there were opportunities for people to be involved in their care and that staff actively encouraged this on a day to day basis. We had some concerns that we could not always be sure that that risk assessments and other elements of care were being provided as intended.

We saw that medicines were properly administered although we had concerns about their storage. We were concerned that staffing levels in the home did not always allow for an adequate level of care to be provided in a timely way.

We looked at a number of other records and talked to the manager. We saw that the provider had systems in place which would enable them to check on the quality of care provided in the home.