Highfield Care Home

This assessment took place between 30 April and 06 May 2026. We visited the service on both of these days. Highfield Care Home is a care home with nursing. The service is registered to support up to 34 adults including older people and people with physical disabilities.At the time of the inspection there were 26 people living at the service.

The service is set out over two floors with the main accommodation being on the ground floor with 3 bedrooms upstairs, accessible by a lift.

We undertook this inspection to follow up on previous breaches of regulation and check that the service had made the necessary improvements in relation to safe care and treatment, governance, and recruitment Action had been taken and the service was no longer in breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

The service was previously rated requires improvement but has now changed to Good.

There was a positive culture of safety at the service. Concerns were investigated and lessons learnt were shared with staff. Staff understood how to keep people safe and how to report safeguarding concerns if they arose. When concerns did arise, they were dealt with effectively.

Staff knew people well and risks to people’s health and wellbeing were managed. However, some care plans needed some more information.

How the service managed fire drills had improved and these were now regularly taking place. There was enough staff to provide people with effective support. Staff now had the training and skills they needed to support people safely. Staff had the support they needed and were supervised.

The service was clean and free from odours. People received their medicines as prescribed.

Staff worked well together and worked well with partner organisations to ensure people received the support they needed. People were supported to remain hydrated and to stay active where possible in an appropriate way. Staff understood how to support people to make choices and how people with capacity had the right to make decisions for themselves.

Oversight of the service had improved. There was a system of audits in place which identified and addressed issues appropriately. Staff and people were able to provide feedback about the service, and their feedback was listened too. Staff told us they felt supported and valued by the management.

The service submitted notifications to CQC as required. The rating for the service was on display.

Date of assessment: This assessment took place between 29 April and 15 May 2025. We visited the service on 29 April and 01 May 2025. This inspection was planned in response to concerns about the management of incidents and safe care and treatment. We found 3 breaches of the regulations in relation to safe care and treatment, safe recruitment practices and good governance. This was the services first inspection and was unannounced.

Highfield Care Home is a care home with nursing. The service is registered to support up to 34 adults including older people and people with physical disabilities. At the time of the inspection visit there was 28 people living there, 2 more people moved in between inspection visits. The service is set out over two floors with the main accommodation being on the ground floor and 3 bedrooms upstairs accessible by a lift. There is an accessible garden.

The service needed to be improved. Safeguarding concerns were not always reported to the local authority in a timely way and were not always reported to CQC as legally required. Risks to people were not always managed as well as they needed to be. For example, where people were at risk from a breakdown in their skin health. How people were supported with their diabetes needed to be improved. Staff needed to develop a better understanding of how to support and encourage people to reduce the risks from diabetes. People’s needs were assessed prior to them moving in and regularly reviewed; however, care plans were not always updated to reflect people’s changing needs.

Prior to the inspection fire drills needed to be improved to ensure all staff regularly participated in evacuation training and lessons were learnt from these drills. Staff were always recruited safely. There were no references on file for some staff to demonstrate these had been sought as part of the recruitment process.

Staff told us communication needed to be improved. During the inspection daily handover meetings were reinstated and staff told us this had made an improvement. Staff raised concerns over staff deployment in the mornings and told us they were too busy at times. We raised this with the provider who told us they reorganised staff responsibilities to improve morning workflow. There was a new activities coordinator in place who was in the process of developing activities for people.

Management oversight needed to improve to drive forward the quality of the service and standards of care. People’s care was not being effectively monitored.

People received their medicines as prescribed for the most part, although there were some areas we raised for improvement.

Staff worked well in partnership with other organisations to ensure people had access to health care and other services. Staff knew how to identify concerns if people were at risk of abuse. Staff understood how to whistleblow if they felt concerns were not addressed. The service was clean and free from odour. Following the inspection visits the provider sent us an action plan to set out how they planned to improve.

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.