Archived: Hazeldene Residential Home

The home had a registered manager who was also the registered provider. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

One person was using the service at the time of this inspection. They told us that staff spoke to them politely and treated them with dignity and respect. They liked living at Hazeldene Residential Home and were positive about the support being provided to them. Records showed that staff helped the person to access treatment from health professionals when required.

The registered manager had known the person living there for a long time. We saw there were positive relationships between staff and the person using the service. The person told us they were involved in choosing their meals and participated in shopping.

There was a system in place for dealing with concerns and complaints. The person felt comfortable in speaking to staff and the registered manager if they had any issues.

Improvements were found to be required in certain areas. The provider had not carried out all necessary recruitment checks to ensure staff were suitable to support people in the home. Fire Safety checks were being carried out inconsistently and a fire risk assessment required completion by a suitably qualified person.

Staff were not always being provided with adequate training and supervision to help them carry out their role effectively. We also found the provider had not acted in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS).

Effective systems were not in place to assess, monitor and improve the quality of the service provided.

The last inspection of the service was in April 2013 when it was found to be meeting the required standards. This inspection was carried out by the lead inspector for the service over two days with our first visit being unannounced. We spoke with both people using the service, two members of staff and the registered provider. We looked at each person's care plans as well as other records held by the provider including those kept for the administration of medicines, staff training and health and safety.

We asked for feedback from professionals involved with the service following our inspection visits but did not receive any comments.

Below is a summary of what we found. The summary describes what we observed, the records we looked at and what people using the service and staff told us.

Is the service safe?

People told us that the care staff treated them well and they felt safe.

We found that staff had access to safeguarding training and records showed that this important mandatory training had last been provided to them in 2013. Individual staff members we spoke with understood the importance of taking action if they suspected abuse was taking place.

People using the service received support from staff to take their medicines. We saw that they had received their medicines safely with appropriate records kept.

Is the service effective?

We saw that the home had a small staff team with two people currently using the service. The registered provider worked at the home on most days and was supported by a small number of staff. Records showed that staff had received training that helped them do their jobs

Is the service caring?

People using the service told us that staff treated them with respect and they were happy living at the home. They said, 'It's alright' and 'It's quite nice here, I like living here'.

Is the service responsive?

The provider and staff clearly knew both people well and were able to tell us about each person's current needs and how they were met. Both individuals were supported to attend day services and to take part in activities they enjoyed.

People said they knew how to make a complaint and felt able to approach the staff working at the service.

Is the service well-led?

We saw that the registered provider worked at the home most days and therefore monitored the service on a daily basis working directly with people using the service. Given the small size of the service, we saw that communication between staff and the provider tended to be on-going and informal. Staff members spoken to said that they received regular supervision however we noted that records were not consistently available for these one to one sessions.

Following the last inspection we served a warning notice on the registered provider because we found staff were not being appropriately supervised and trained. We required the registered provider to become compliant with regulation 23(1) (a) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010 by the 14 November 2012. We also referred our concerns onto the local authority safeguarding team. Since then the local authority's Care Home Support Team (CHST) had been working with the home to promote good standards of care. The team had arranged an ongoing training programme for the registered provider and the staff team.

A member of staff told us they were now receiving regular formal supervision and lots of training from the CHST.