Holly House Care Home

Holly House is a residential care home providing personal care to up to 9 people. The service specialises in working age dementia providing care to younger adults living with dementia and mental health conditions. At the time of our inspection there were 9 people using the service.

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

Care plan review records lacked involvement from people, their relatives and representatives. In addition, for people who lacked capacity it was not always clear how they or their representative had been involved.

The provider had safeguarding systems and processes to keep people safe. Staff knew about the risks to people and followed the assessments to ensure they met people's needs. People felt safe and were supported by staff who knew how to protect them from avoidable harm.

People received their medicines safely and as prescribed and were supported by sufficient numbers of staff to ensure risk of harm was minimised.

Staff sought people's consent before providing care and support. People's individual communication needs were considered to support them to be involved in their care.

Staff spoke positively about working for the provider. They felt well supported and that they could talk to the management team at any time, feeling confident any concerns would be acted on promptly. They felt valued and happy in their role.

Staff had been recruited appropriately and had received relevant training, so they were able to support people with their individual care and support needs.

The home was clean with effective infection prevention control measures in place to mitigate the risk of cross contamination.

There were processes in place to monitor incidents and accidents to identify potential trends and put in place action plans to reduce risk of reoccurrence.

People’s needs were assessed before joining the service. Staff completed a 12 week training induction when they first started with ongoing training to maintain their skills.

People’s nutritional needs were being met. The service worked effectively with health and social care professionals and services to maintain the health and wellbeing of people.

The home environment was bright and spacious with a number of different areas around the home for people to relax in.

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.

People and relatives told us they found the staff to be kind and caring. People’s independence was encouraged, and they were treated with dignity and respect by the staff.

There had been few complaints made about the service. However, there was a complaints process in place that monitored for themes to reduce risk of reoccurrences. The provider had processes in place to support people who were approaching their end of life.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 25 October 2017).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted due to concerns about the number of people living at the home. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Southside on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

Holly House provides accommodation and personal care for up to 8 younger adults living with dementia and mental health issues. There were 8 people living at the service at the time of our inspection.

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.

The culture of the service was to promote people’s wellbeing whilst providing personalised care and support. People were at the heart of the service and people’s expectations were exceeded in relation to the support provided to them. Staff were aware of people’s likes and dislikes, their aspirations and how they wished to spend their days. People were encouraged to take part in a variety of activities that were of interest to them and chose to have busy lives. Great efforts were made to ensure people maintained relationships with those important to them. People’s care needs were regularly reviewed and staff made aware of any changes in their care needs immediately.

People felt safe and confident in the care of the staff who supported them. People were protected from harm because there were systems in place to identify and manage risks associated with their needs. Staff were aware of their responsibilities to act on any concerns they may have regarding people’s wellbeing and additional support was sourced where appropriate, to keep people safe from harm.

People were supported by staff who received a comprehensive induction and were well trained. Systems were in place to ensure staff had the most up to date skills they needed to meet the individual needs of the people they supported. People were supported by sufficient numbers of staff with the right skill mix to meet their needs.

Systems were in place to ensure people received their medicines as prescribed by appropriately trained staff.

People were supported by staff who were aware of their healthcare needs and worked effectively with other agencies to promote their health and well-being. People were supported to have sufficient food and drink to remain healthy and solutions were sought to support people to make healthy choices which may have a positive impact on their well-being.

People were complimentary about the staff who supported them and benefitted from positive relationships with staff and other people living at the home. Staff respected people’s privacy and dignity and were respectful when supporting people with their needs.

There was a system in place for investigating and recording complaints and people were confident that if they did have any concerns, they would be dealt with appropriately. People were given the opportunity to have their voice heard and provide regular feedback on the service.

Staff felt listened to and supported and were well motivated and enjoyed their work.

Regular audits took place to continually assess the quality of the care provided. There was a strong emphasis on continual improvement and striving to provide a quality service in order to support people to live healthy, interesting and fulfilling lives.