Highview House, Durham, is rated Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission

Published: 3 December 2015 Page last updated: 12 May 2022
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The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated the quality of care provided by Resolve (Care Northern) Limited at Highview House as Outstanding.

Highview House in Spennymoor, County Durham, is a community based care home providing specialised care and support to men with learning disabilities.

CQC carried out an unannounced inspection at the home in September this year and has rated the service as Outstanding overall. The home has been rated as Outstanding for providing services that are responsive and well led, and Good for providing services that are safe, effective and responsive.

Under CQC’s new programme of inspections, all adult social care services are being given a rating according to whether they are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led. A full report of the inspection has been published today at www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-1707167109.

Inspectors found people were cared for by a motivated and well trained team of staff who showed a clear commitment to providing individualised and personalised support.

Staff interacted with people in a very caring and compassionate way. People living at the home told inspectors that staff understood their needs, listened to them, and made them feel valued. Care plans were detailed, and people were directly involved in making decisions about the support they received.

Staff were highly skilled in identifying when people felt unsafe, and worked with people to mitigate any risks while supporting them feel in control and safe.

The service worked with other health professionals to better understand people’s conditions and plan for their future. For example, people’s records were linked with the NHS mental health team so that their conditions could be monitored more closely, any changes identified, and treated without delay.

All people living at the home received one to one support and had the opportunity for education, personal development and to acquire skills up to diploma level.

People’s medicines were well managed and the home had procedures and clear guidelines in place to manage any risk of infection control.

Inspectors found the service to have a robust system of quality audits with a range of measures in place to ensure the safe and efficient running of the home.

Staff were focused on continued improvement and worked with other organisations to ensure they were sharing and implementing best practice.

Debbie Westhead, Deputy Chief Inspector for Adult Social Care in the North, said:

“We found the care being provided at Highview House to be outstanding. The staff should feel proud of the work they do and the care they are providing to people they support.

“What really struck us about this service was the level of personalised support that people received, from staff who had the right skills and who treated people with great kindness. People told us they liked the staff who supported them, and the home was highly praised by external healthcare professionals.

“People should always be cared for by services that are safe, effective, caring, responsive to their needs, and well led. I’d encourage other providers to read this report, and the others we have published on services we have rated Outstanding, to see what they can learn.”

Ends

For further information please contact CQC Regional Communications Officer Mark Humphreys on 0191 233 3519 or 07881656012. Journalists wishing to speak to the press office outside of office hours can find out how to contact the team here. Please note: the press office is unable to advise members of the public on health or social care matters.

For general enquiries, please call 03000 61 61 61.

Find out more

Read reports from our checks on the standards at Highview House.

About the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England.

We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and we encourage care services to improve.

We monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety and we publish what we find to help people choose care.