Archived: Hightrees Residential Care Home

Updated 12 October 2015

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

We undertook this unannounced inspection of Hightrees Residential Care Home on 8 September 2015. This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service, which included notifications of significant events made to the Care Quality Commission since our last inspection.

We spoke with all of the 10 people currently residing at the home and three relatives. We spoke with three staff and the registered manager.

We observed interactions between staff and people using the service as we wanted to see if the way that staff communicated and supported people had a positive effect on their well-being.

We looked at seven people’s care plans and other documents relating to people’s care including risk assessments and medicines records. We looked at other records held at the home including staff files, health and safety documents and quality audits and surveys.

Updated 12 October 2015

This inspection took place on 8 September 2015 and was unannounced. At our last inspection in October 2013 the service was meeting all the standards we looked at.

Hightrees Residential Care Home is a care home for older adults. The maximum number of people they can accommodate is 12. On the day of the inspection there were 10 people residing at the home.

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 told us they felt safe and had no concerns about how they were being cared for at the home. They told us that the staff were kind and respectful and they were satisfied with the numbers of staff on duty so they did not have to wait too long for assistance.

The registered manager and staff at the home had identified and highlighted potential risks to people’s safety and had thought about and recorded how these risks could be reduced.

We saw that risk assessments, audits and checks regarding the safety and security of the premises were taking place on a regular basis and were being reviewed and updated where necessary.

Staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and told us they would presume a person could make their own decisions about their care and treatment in the first instance. Staff told us it was not right to make choices for people when they could make choices for themselves.

The registered manager made sure that no staff were offered a post without first providing the required information to protect people from unsuitable staff being employed at the home.

People had good access to healthcare professionals such as doctors, dentists, chiropodists and opticians and any changes to people’s needs were responded to appropriately and quickly.

There were systems in place to ensure medicines were handled and stored securely and administered to people safely and appropriately.

People told us staff listened to them and respected their choices and decisions.

People using the service and staff were positive about the registered manager. They confirmed that they were asked about the quality of the service and had made comments about this. People felt the registered manager took their views into account in order to improve service delivery.