Hazelmere Nursing Home

Updated 3 June 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of one inspector.

Service and service type

Hazelmere Nursing Home is a ‘care home.’ People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Hazelmere Nursing Home is a care home with nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we held about the service and the service provider. We looked at notifications and any safeguarding alerts we had received for this service. Notifications are information about important events the service is required to send us by law. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We looked around the service and met with the people who lived there. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI) during the morning of the first day of our inspection. SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We spoke with 8 people in detail to understand their views and experiences of the service and we observed how staff supported people. We spoke with the registered manager, and provider. We also spoke with 6 members of staff. We were able to speak with 2 visitors during the inspection.

We reviewed the care records of 6 people and a range of other documents. For example, medicine records, 4 staff recruitment files; staff training records and records relating to the management of the service.

Following the site visits, we continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found during the inspection process. We were sent training and supervision data and immediate actions taken by the management team following the site visit. We also spoke with 2 professionals who visit the service.

Updated 3 June 2023

About the service

Hazelmere is registered to provide nursing, care, and accommodation for up to 28 people. There were 21 people living in the service when we visited. People cared for were mainly older people who were living with a range of care needs, including arthritis, diabetes and heart conditions. Some people were also living with dementia. Most people needed support with their personal care, eating, drinking or mobility. Accommodation was provided over two floors.

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

The management team reviewed the service through a range of governance systems that looked at ways to provide positive outcomes for people. However, it was not fully effective as it had not identified that not all people had specific care plans and risk assessments in place to meet their individual health needs. Immediate action was taken, and we received an immediate action plan to ensure systems were more robust to prevent this shortfall occurring again.

People received safe care and support by staff trained to recognise signs of abuse or risk and understood what to do to safely support people. One person said, “I feel safe here, absolutely, it’s such a relief to have someone to make sure I’m safe.” A visitor said, “They seem very competent, I have faith in the staff here.”

There were enough staff to meet people's needs. Safe recruitment practices had been followed before staff started working at the service. People were supported to take positive risks, to ensure they had as much choice and control of their lives as possible. We observed medicines being given safely to people by appropriately trained staff, who had been assessed as competent. The home was clean, well-maintained, and comfortable. The provider ensured that when things went wrong, accidents were recorded, and lessons were learned.

Managers and senior staff created a transparent and honest culture for people and staff that was focused on ensuring everyone had the support they needed. The management were committed and enthusiastic about providing support and training for staff to enable them to provide people with the best support possible.

People, their relatives and staff were given regular opportunities to be involved in how the service was run by being provided with frequent opportunities to feedback on aspects of the service.

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 02 September 2019)

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service and age of the last rating.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

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.

Follow up

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