Archived: The Highviews

Updated 10 July 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type:

The Highviews is registered as a care home service without nursing for up to six people with learning disabilities. At the time of the inspection there were five people living at the service. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.

Notice of inspection:

This inspection took place on 13 June 2019. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

What we did:

We reviewed the information we had received about the service since the last inspection in June 2016. This included details about incidents the provider had notified us about. We assessed the information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

We spoke with five people who lived at the service to obtain their views of the care they received. We spent time observing the care and support that people received. We spoke to the provider, deputy manager and senior carer. The registered manager was not available during the inspection. We also spoke to one professional during the inspection.

Following the inspection, we spoke to two relatives. We looked at a range of documents including policies and procedures, care records for five people and other documents such as safeguarding, incident and accident records, medication records and quality assurance information. We reviewed staff information including recruitment, supervision and training information as well as team meeting minutes and staff rotas. We looked at the provider's information and auditing systems and processes.

Updated 10 July 2019

About the service: The Highviews is a small care home for up to six adults with learning disabilities. People receiving the service also live with health conditions including epilepsy, mental health conditions and physical disabilities. The home is a large two story house, with a well-kept garden. It is situated in a residential area of Saltdean, on the outskirts of Brighton.

The service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the 'Registering the Right Support' and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen. These values were seen consistently in practice at the service. For example, some people were receiving the assistance with communication they needed so that they could live independent lives and were supported to do so.

People’s experience of using this service:

People were cared for by staff who knew how to keep them safe and protect them from avoidable harm. There were sufficient staff available to meet people’s needs promptly. People received their medicines safely. Incidents and accidents were looked into and actions taken to prevent a reoccurrence. Infection control procedures were followed by staff.

People's needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered to meet legislation and good practice guidance. People were happy with the food provided. People were supported to have maximum choice in their lives and staff sought consent from people. One person said, “ I can make my own choices about what to wear and what to eat. Staff respect this.” When people were unable to make decisions about their care and support, staff followed the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (2005). People were supported by staff who received regular training to meet their needs. One person told us, “The staff are very good, they work very hard.”

People received kind and compassionate care. People’s independence was promoted by staff. People were treated with respect and dignity and supported to make decisions about their care.

People received personalised care that was tailored to meet their individual needs, preferences and choices. Care plans were detailed and guided staff about people's needs and how to meet them. People’s concerns and complaints were listened to used to improve the service they received. Staff had training and experience to provide end of life support when people needed it.

The registered manager and provider were well regarded and had a clear vision for the service which was understood by the staff and embedded within their practice. There were effective quality assurance systems in place that were used to drive service improvements. People, their relatives and staff were asked for their feedback about the home and meetings were held regularly.

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

Rating at last inspection: The rating at the last inspection was Good. The last report was published on 15 August 2016

Why we inspected: This was a scheduled inspection based on the previous rating.

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