Archived: The Hayes

The Hayes is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care for up to 50 older people. At the time of our inspection visit there were 45 people living in the home. The Hayes is a purpose built home made up of five small ‘cottages’ linked by a large communal area.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The Hayes had been through a period of unsettled leadership. Staff, people and professionals spoke highly of the new manager recognising their role in supporting the team and improving the quality of care.

People described a happy, relaxed service, where they felt safe, well cared for and respected by all staff. They received personalised and responsive care.

People were supported to pursue their hobbies and explore new experiences. People told us they enjoyed an interesting programme of activities. People were involved in their care; telling us they were free to choose how they spent their time. End of life care plans were in place and the service worked with other agencies to meet people’s needs at the end of their lives.

Risks relating to people’s individual needs and the environment were identified and planned for. Staff understood how to keep people safe and knew how to respond if any concerns were raised about people’s well-being or safety.

There were enough staff, safely recruited, to meet people’s needs.

The service was clean throughout and staff took precautions to minimise the risk of infection. Accidents and incidents were investigated and reviewed to mitigate further occurrences. Medicines were managed in a safe way.

The staff felt supported to carry out their roles. They told us they received training and supervision to support them.

Staff were kind and caring and treated people with respect. Staff had a good understanding of how to promote people’s privacy, dignity and independence. The provider sought to meet people’s needs in relation to equality and diversity.

People enjoyed the food and mealtimes were sociable occasions. The service worked with other agencies and professionals to support people’s health care needs.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Quality assurance and monitoring systems were in place to help drive improvements at the service. People knew how to raise concerns and felt confident the management team would address and rectify any problems.

Rating at last inspection -

The last rating for this service was good (published June 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

The Hayes provides accommodation and personal care for up to 50 people. There were six vacancies at the time of inspection, one of the rooms was used for people who wanted to have a short stay in the home. The service is located in Sherborne and is a large detached single storey building. There are several fully accessible showers and assisted bathrooms available for people. The accommodation is split into five cottages, each with ten bedrooms. Each cottage has its own lounge and dining areas and kitchen. The Home has a larger communal lounge area and several outside areas which are accessible for people.

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. 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.

People did not always receive their pain medicines as prescribed because staff were administering them ‘as required’. For example, one person had pain relief prescribed to be administered four times daily. Staff were not administering this four times daily, but offering it to the person and only administering if the person told staff that they wanted their pain relief. People were able to tell us that they were not in pain and were asked whether they wanted their pain relief and the registered manager was writing to people’s GP’s to request that their prescriptions be reviewed to reflect that they required pain relief as required.

People were protected from the risk of harm by staff who understood the possible signs of abuse and how to recognise these and report any concerns. Staff were also aware of how to whistle blow if they needed to and reported that they would be confident to do so.

Staff were aware of the risks people faced and understood their role in reducing these. People had individual risk assessments which identified risks and actions required by staff to ensure that people were supported safely.

There were enough staff available and people did not have to wait for support. People had support and care from staff who were familiar to them and knew them well. Staff were consistent in their knowledge of people’s care needs and spoke confidently about the support people needed to meet these needs.

The home had good links with health professionals and regular visits and discussions meant that people were able to access appropriate healthcare input promptly when required.

People were supported by staff who had the necessary training and skills to support them. Training was provided in a number of areas and refresher sessions were booked for certain topics on a regular basis.

Staff understood and supported people to make choices about their care. People's legal rights were protected because staff knew about and used appropriate legislation. Where people had decisions made in their best interests, these included the views of those important to the person and considered whether options were the least restrictive for the person.

People spoke positively about the food and had choices about what they ate and drank. The kitchen were aware about people’s dietary needs and where people required a special diet or assistance to be able to eat and drink safely this was in place.

Staff knew people well and interactions were relaxed and caring. People were comfortable with staff and we observed people being supported in a respectful way. People were encouraged to make choices about their support and staff were able to communicate with people in ways which were meaningful to them.

People were supported by staff who respected their privacy and dignity and told us that they were encouraged to be independent.

People were supported by staff who knew their likes, dislikes and preferences. Staff told us that they communicated well and there were regular handovers at each shift change. There were clear processes in place for each shift and staff knew their roles and responsibilities.

People had care plans which were person centred and included details about how they wished to be supported. Care plans were regularly reviewed with people and their loved ones where appropriate.

People were able to engage with a range of activities including one to one time with staff. People told us that they had enough to do at the home and had input into what activities were arranged.

Relatives spoke positively about the staff and management of the home. They told us that they were always welcomed and visited when then chose. Both relatives and people told us that they would be confident to complain if they needed to.

The Hayes had a clear management structure and staff and people told us that the registered manager was available and approachable.

Feedback was gathered both formally and informally and used to drive improvements at the home. Quality assurance measures were regular and also used to identify gaps and trends which were then used to plan actions to drive high quality care.