Herne Place Care Home

Herne Place Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care to 62 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 66 people with personal care relating to their health conditions, such as dementia, and frailty of old age.

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

We found shortfalls in the records the service held regarding risks to people. These shortfalls had been identified by the services own internal audits and checks before our inspection and progress was being made to ensure these were updated as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The manager told us there had been staffing issues in recent months and had to use agency staff, however, new staff had been recruited and recruitment remained ongoing. Staff had been recruited safely and appropriate checks made of their suitability for the position.

People were supported by staff who knew how to safeguard them by recognising signs of abuse or harm. Staff understood their responsibilities to record and report these concerns to their line manager. Safeguarding alerts had been raised to the local authority teams in accordance with the providers policy.

Staff supported people to stay as safe as possible and minimise the risk of infections. Staff had access to Personal Protective Equipment and had completed infection control training.

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.

Staff spoke positively of the change in culture and atmosphere since the manager had arrived in their post. The manager and deputy manager were open and honest throughout inspection regarding any identified shortfalls and developed actions to take to improve these.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was good (published 8 November 2021)

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to staffing and records. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. The provider started to make changes before our inspection and will continue to ensure improvements are made. We will be updated on the progress of these as required.

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 Herne Place Care Home 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.

Herne Place Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care to 26 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 66 people who live with dementia and who have physical conditions.

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

The manager had oversight of the service and people and their relatives felt the service was well led. There was no registered manager in post at time of inspection. The manager had recently been promoted from deputy manager and had been working at the service since it opened in 2020. An application to become registered manager was being considered. People, their relatives and staff all felt the manager was proactive, supportive and caring.

People and their relatives told us they felt the service was safe and people were cared for well. Feedback was positive with people telling us they felt at home and treated as family.

People were supported to remain safe by staff who could recognise signs of abuse. Alerts of concerns were raised to the local authority safeguarding teams where necessary. Concerns raised by staff to the manager were investigated appropriately.

People were supported by appropriately trained members of staff who were recruited safely. Staff were supervised regularly to ensure they were providing high levels of care and support.

People were complimentary about the food served at Herne Place Care Home and told us there were always extra snack and drinks available when required. People were encouraged to take part in the range of individual activities offered and if people did not wish to take part, one to one sessions were arranged to ensure all people had some social contact.

People were supported to remain as safe and as healthy as possible with the manager and the staff working with external professionals to provide joined up support. People had access to their GP and nurses when required. Staff arranged dentists, podiatrists and hair stylists to visit and provide services to people.

People were offered choices, treated with respect and were cared for in a dignified way. Staff treated people as individuals and provided support based on their individual 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.

The provider and the manager completed a range of checks and audits of the service to ensure any issues were quickly identified and put right. Accidents or incidents were investigated fully and any lessons which were learnt were communicated with all involved.

People who required support at the end of their life were supported by appropriately trained staff. Staff liaised with external professionals to ensure people could remain in the service and be supported, without having to be admitted to hospital or move to a different service.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 03/06/2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the date of registration.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.