Golden Horizon Care Home

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture. This is the first assessment for this newly registered service. This key question has been rated good. This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred care.

This service scored 71 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities. The home manager told us the key values of the service were person centred care, for everyone to respect people’s home, respect people’s wishes, values and preferences and to ensure people still have daily choices despite staff knowing their preferences. Relatives described the culture of the home as positive, 1 relative told us, “It's a happy home. Staff are all jolly and chat and dance and sing with people”. Another relative said “They are all very welcoming and all so kind”. All staff we spoke with shared positive comments about working together as a team and the shared direction of the service. Staff complimented the new providers on the improvements which had been made to people’s daily activities and access to the local community. One staff member told us, “The new providers have had more input for activities and social events for the families to join in. They had a massive garden party, people really enjoyed it, everyone had a great time”. The provider had recently introduced an employee of the month programme to recognise staff contribution and promote a positive working culture.

The provider had inclusive leaders at who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. They did so with integrity, openness and honesty. The home manager had been in post for 6 weeks at the time of our inspection and had applied to register with the CQC. They were passionate about what they would like to achieve over the coming months and had made some positive changes to the service. For example, introducing a resident of the day process and daily stand-up meetings. The resident of the day process is where a staff member focuses on a specific person each day to review their care plans and risk assessments and discuss their choices and wishes. People and relatives shared positive comments about the home manager and providers, some of these included, “I know the owners they are very nice. I see them a lot and they always say hello to me. There is a new manager but only recently” and “The new owners had a garden party, invited us all and introduced themselves. It was really nice”. The home manager told us they were supported by the providers who visited on a regular basis, in the event they needed support or advice they felt assured this was always available.

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. People and relatives had the opportunity to raise any grumbles or concerns, and we saw evidence when these had occurred, they had been managed appropriately. Relatives told us they would feel comfortable to raise any concerns and if needed actions would be taken. One relative told us, “I would go to the owner. I see them regularly when I visit. They are very approachable”. Another relative said, I would go to the owners. They are always there when I come. They always say hello. They are lovely people”. Staff had opportunities to make suggestions and contribute to the development of the service at staff meetings, surveys and through the provider's supervision procedure. The home manager understood their responsibilities under the duty of candour. The duty of candour is to be open and transparent, and it sets out specific guideline's providers must follow if things go wrong with care and treatment.

The provider valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them. The provider’s recruitment policies and procedures helped ensure staff experienced equitable treatment. Staff told us they felt valued and were part of positive teamworking. The service had an equality and diversity policy in place to guide equitable and fair recruitment and selection procedures. Staff had received training in relation to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

The provider had clear responsibilities, roles and systems of accountability. However, some of the providers audits processes had not highlight some of the concerns we found during the inspection process. For example, identifying environmental concerns, inconsistencies with care planning and daily monitoring of care tasks. We discussed this with the home manager and providers who reviewed their auditing and governance processes during the inspection. They provided us with actions and timescales on how they plan to strengthen and have better oversight to ensure concerns are identified and addressed promptly. Some of the improvements suggested including, daily documentation being monitored through increased spot checks, senior staff completing regular record audits and staff accountability being reinforced through supervision and discussions during handovers and team meetings.

The provider understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for people. They shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement. People had access to partner services such as chiropodists, dentists and opticians, and where needed people were supported to attend their relevant hospital appointments. We received some mixed feedback from professional’s visiting the service, some professionals told us communication could be improved, however all shared appropriate referrals had been made in a timely manner and people accessed external services when they needed them. Local providers visited the service regularly to offer entertainment and interactive sessions. People were encouraged to maintain relationships with those who were important to them and engage in activities which were meaningful and improved their quality of life.

The provider focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They actively contributed to safe, effective practice and research. The providers had made some positive changes since managing the service with improvements to the environment, activities and community integration. The providers, home manager and staff were passionate about continuing to improve the service, and further plans were detailed in the providers service improvement plan. Some of these included developing a sensory garden, an interactive wall mural, personalised memory albums, themed activity weeks and developing a spa and relaxation room. The plan also highlighted where the service would like to strengthen their governance and oversight by employing a dedicated care co-coordinator, developing audit processes and introducing themed and group supervisions to encourage shared learning, discussion, and team cohesion. There was an open culture to share learning and drive continuous improvement to ensure people received safe, effective, person-centred care.