Hollybank Nursing Home

On this page

• Overview
• Learning culture
• Safe systems, pathways and transitions
• Safeguarding
• Involving people to manage risks
• Safe environments
• Safe and effective staffing
• Infection prevention and control
• Medicines optimisation

Safe – this means we looked for evidence that people were protected from abuse and avoidable harm. At our last assessment we rated this key question requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to good. This meant people were safe and protected from avoidable harm.

The service was previously in breach of legal regulation in relation to people’s safe care and treatment. At this assessment we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of this regulation.

This service scored 62 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We did not look at Learning culture during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

The provider worked with people and healthcare partners to establish and maintain safe systems of care, in which safety was managed or monitored. They made sure there was continuity of care, including when people moved between different services. People’s needs were assessed prior to them using the service to ensure their needs could be safely met. Key information was sought from the person, their relatives and any external professionals involved in the person’s care to enable a positive transition into the service. We also found assessments continued following people’s admission to ensure the service had accurate and up to date information on people's needs and preferences. Staff worked in partnership with other professionals such as GP’s and district nurses to support people to promptly access healthcare when required. For example, we found prompt action had been taken when staff identified a person had lost weight, medical advice had been sought, and the person’s care plan was updated with the guidance provided.

The provider worked with people and healthcare partners to understand what being safe meant to them and the best way to achieve that. Staff concentrated on improving people’s lives while protecting their right to live in safety, free from bullying, harassment, abuse, discrimination, avoidable harm and neglect. People were protected from abuse and avoidable harm. People and their relatives felt the service was safe. A person told us, “Yes, I feel safe here, the staff are brilliant, I have no issues” and a relative told us, “There is nothing untoward, safety or care.”

The registered manager told us about the systems in place to ensure safeguarding incidents were investigated and shared with the relevant authorities. Staff had received training in safeguarding and understood how to identify and report any concerns to the management team and externally if required. We observed staff to support people safely throughout our inspection and we found equipment in place which supported people’s safety.

The provider worked with people to understand and manage risks by thinking holistically. Staff provided care to meet people’s needs that was safe, supportive and enabled people to do the things that mattered to them. Risks which affected people's daily lives, were documented and known by staff. The management team monitored and regularly assessed these risks and took appropriate actions to ensure people received care in a safe and consistent way. Clear personalised guidance was in place for staff to support people. Guidance detailed people's individual needs, preferences and key things that were important to them. Relatives confirmed they were kept informed of any changes in their family members health. One relative told us, “They are always calling us and letting us know what is going on.” And another relative told us, “Communication with the home has been very good.”.

The provider had not always detected and controlled potential risks in the care environment. We found window restrictors were not in place on all of the first-floor windows, fire alarm and emergency lighting checks had not been consistently carried out in line with the required frequencies. The registered manager took immediate action to rectify this and put a system in place to ensure this would be regularly checked by the management team. Emergency evacuation drills were regularly carried out with all staff and people had personal emergency evacuations in place to support the safe evacuation of people from the building in an emergency.

We did not look at Safe and effective staffing during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

The provider assessed and managed the risk of infection. They detected and controlled the risk of it spreading and shared concerns with appropriate agencies promptly. Staff had received training in infection, prevention and control and told us how they applied this in their day-to-day practice. We observed the environment to be clean and found adequate supplies of PPE (Personal protective equipment) in place. The service had an up-to-date infection, prevention and control policy in place. We found regular infection, prevention and control audits had taken place and actions had been promptly addressed.

We did not look at Medicines optimisation during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.