The Care Quality Commission
  • Care Home
  • Care home

Archived: Heighton House

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

19 Barnwood Road, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, GL2 0SD (01452) 380014

Provided and run by:
Cotswold Care Services Ltd

All Inspections

8 July 2014

During a routine 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 and to pilot a new inspection process being introduced by CQC which looks at the overall quality of the service.

This inspection was unannounced.  The previous inspection was conducted in August 2013, when we found no concerns in the areas we looked at.

When we visited there was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service and has the legal responsibility for meeting the requirements of the law; as does the provider.

Heighton House is a care home for up to eight people. This service provides care and support to people with a learning disability. At the time of our inspection there were five people living in the home. Each person had a single bedroom.

People who lived in the home were not safe from the risks of cross infection. This was because some areas of the home were not being cleaned thoroughly. We also found that where some people lacked mental capacity, other professionals had not been involved in the decision making process ensuring decisions were in their best interest.

Some people were offered more opportunities than others to take part in planned activities. Activity plans were not being followed consistently. People had access to healthcare professionals according to their individual needs. Staff were knowledgeable about the people they were supporting. They described people in a positive way in relation to their individual personalities and how they supported them.

People were protected from the risk of abuse because there were clear procedures in place to recognise and respond to abuse and staff had been trained in how to follow the procedures. People were supported by staff that had received appropriate training which was relevant to their roles.

There was a management structure in the home which gave clear lines of responsibility and accountability. A senior care staff was responsible for the day to day management of the home. The registered manager was responsible for another service and spent part of the working week in the other home.  The provider was monitoring the service by visiting the home on a monthly basis. However, the registered manager was not receiving the monitoring reports quickly enough to enable them to make the necessary improvements promptly.

The registered manager told us there were areas where they could improve the service for people living in the home. This included seeking people’s views where they used non-verbal communication, ensuring care was reviewed more frequently and training for staff around communication for people with a learning disability. There was an action plan in place with timescales for completion.

We found a number of breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.

23 August 2013

During a routine inspection

We undertook this inspection as we received anonymous concerns that the health and welfare of people living at Heighton House was not being safeguarded by staff. The concerns related to the provision of food, personal care and lack of activities for people. We found no evidence to substantiate the concerns.

We looked at how staff consulted with people, their friends and families to ensure they were involved in planning and choosing how they were supported. Support plans had recently been rewritten and had recorded the choices made by people and how they wished staff to support them. Each person had individualised support plans regarding all aspects of their daily life.

We were not able to talk with people living at the home as people were not able to, or chose not to, speak with us on the day of the inspection.

Each of the support plans which had been redrafted in text and easy read formats had been completed following a reassessment of support needs. The support plans had subsequently been reviewed on a regular basis. Risks, and how they were being managed, had recently been reviewed and had balanced the choice of people to engage in activities, with their personal safety.

We reviewed how the home protected people from the risk of abuse. Staff had been provided with training to equip them to recognise the signs of abuse and of the actions they must take to report their concerns. People their friends and families had been made aware of whom they could contact in, or outside of the home, if they had concerns that someone was being abused.

Staff training records showed that they had access to regular health and safety training and specialist training in relation to supporting people with a learning disability. They also had access to regular informal and formal supervision support meetings with senior staff.

Heighton House had a number of quality assurance monitoring systems in place to ensure there was a safe environment for people to live-in and that they were protected against the risks of unsafe care. Regular audits had been conducted of support plans, medication and the maintenance of the building. The views of people their friends, families and representatives had also been sought regarding how the home was operating and supporting people.

27 September 2012

During an inspection looking at part of the service

During this inspection to check improvements we looked at the activity plans and daily records of activities for all eight people living in the home, as well as speaking to people who were able to tell us about their daily lives.

We saw that the range of activities on offer had improved and records showed that activities were personalised to each individual's needs and wishes. The staffing hours had been increased to ensure the activities that people wanted to take part in could be facilitated.

People we spoke with told us they were happy living in the home and enjoyed the activities they took part in. One person told us "Staff take me to visit my brother and I enjoy that". The day before our visit everyone living in the home had been out to a wild life park and they were all very excited about this outing. One person told us "I saw big cats and elephants and I enjoyed the fish and chips on the way home".

We looked to see if improvements had been made to the maintenance of the premises. We saw that the lounge and dining room had been re-decorated and new flooring fitted and decorating work in the conservatory, hallway and stairs had started. There was a programme in place to re-decorate each person's room and two had already been done. We were also advised that new furniture for all the communal rooms had been ordered and people had been involved in choosing the furniture. One person told us "I am going to get a new chair and I said which one I wanted".

6 October 2011

During a routine inspection

People told us that staff respected their privacy and dignity and their right to make choices. One person told us, "staff have respect for me. I am contented."

People that we spoke with said they liked living at the home. One person said "it's alright, the staff are alright", and, "they look after me well'.

Another person told us, "I love it here, it's like a home from home", "we can do anything we like here. I am happy all the time, no problems." This person also said, ''they feed me well".

People living at the home told us that they felt safe there and knew how to raise concerns. When we spoke to one person about what they would do if they had any issues, they told us, "I know what to do. I know how to speak to staff."