- Care home
Heathlands Care Centre
Assessment report published 29 April 2025
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
We completed the inspection of Heathlands Centre on 2 and 3 December 2024. Heathlands Care Centre provides residential and nursing care to up to 46 people. There were 37 people living at the service at the time of our inspection. The inspection was to follow up on previous concerns and to review information we had received regarding the leadership of the service. We found some improvements had been made in relation to safeguarding and person-centred care although further development was required to management structures and processes. We found on-going concerns in relation to people’s safe care, and the overall governance of the service and identified additional concerns relating to the safe recruitment of staff. Action was not always taken following accidents and incidents. Risks to people’s care were not always mitigated and staff were not always provided with guidance on how to support people safely. Staff did not always seek the support of specialist professionals to minimise health risks. The provider had failed to ensure robust oversight of the service and had not recognised the seriousness of concerns raised. Quality assurance processes had not highlighted issues such as staff competency not being assessed, safeguarding concerns not being reported to external bodies, best practice guidance and the Mental Capacity Act not being followed, and the poor culture of the service. This service remains in special measures. The purpose of special measures is to ensure that services providing inadequate care make significant improvements. Special measures provides a framework within which we use our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care, and provide a timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of the care they provide. In instances where CQC have decided to take civil or criminal enforcement action against a provider, we will publish this information on our website after any representations and/ or appeals have been concluded.
People's experience of this service
People did not always receive safe care as effective action was not always taken to ensure accidents and incidents did not happen again; which meant they were subjected to the risk of harm. The majority of people and relatives we spoke with told us they felt additional staff were needed as people needed to wait for their care. Some people expressed concern they needed to get up and go to bed at times which suited staff, rather than having a choice regarding when they received their care. Whilst people generally received their day to day medicines safely, there were concerns regarding how as and when required medicines were recorded, and people did not always have topical skin creams applied in line with their prescriptions. There were mixed views on the activities offered to people. People told us they were grateful for the efforts of the activity co-ordinator. We observed activities could be repetitive and people who needed or preferred to spend time in their rooms had little opportunity for social interaction. Whilst people’s care plans contained some good information regarding people’s life histories; this was not always known to staff and regularly used to generate conversation and build relationships. Where this did happen, we saw this had a positive effect on people’s wellbeing. On the whole people were asked for their consent prior to receiving care, although we observed this was not always the case during mealtimes. People told us they enjoyed the food and this was prepared in line with their needs and preferences. People and their relatives told us they felt the new manager was friendly and approachable.