Homemead

Updated 11 May 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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

Homemead is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post.

An application was made proposing a new registered manager that was being processed.

Notice of inspection

Inspection activity started on 6 April and ended on 26 April 2023. The inspection visit took place on 12 and 19 April 2022 and was unannounced on the first day.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and health professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

Many people couldn’t use words to communicate verbally and did not comment on the service. We spoke in person with the manager and deputy. We spoke with 5 people using the service, 3 relatives, 7 staff and 5 health professionals to get their experience and views about the care provided. We reviewed a range of records. They included 5 people’s care plans and risk records. We looked at 4 staff files in relation to recruitment, training and supervision. We checked a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including staff rotas, audits, quality assurance, policies and procedures.

We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

Updated 11 May 2023

About the service

Homemead is a care home that provides accomodation and personal care for up to 30 older people in one adapted building. At the time of our inspection there were 23 people using the service including those living with dementia.

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

People using the service, their relatives and staff told us that the home was a safe place to live. People had risks to them regularly assessed, reviewed and minimised meaning they could take acceptable risks, and enjoy their lives in a safely. Any safeguarding concerns, accidents, and incidents were reported, investigated and recorded, appropriately. The home had enough staff to support people and meet their needs. Staff were appropriately recruited and trained including how to safely administer medicines. The home used Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) safely, effectively and the infection prevention and control policy was up to date.

Homemead was managed and led positively, in an open, transparent and positive way with an honest culture. The provider had a vision and values that were clearly set out, staff understood and followed. Management and staff responsibilities and accountability were clearly defined, and a good service provided that was regularly reviewed. The provider audits were thorough, and records kept up to date. Community links and working partnerships were established and maintained to minimise people’s social isolation. The provider met Care Quality Commission (CQC) registration requirements. Healthcare professionals told us that the service was well managed and met people’s needs in a professional, friendly and open way.

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.

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 22 November 2018). The overall rating for the service remains good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

Why we inspected

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

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.

We did not inspect the key questions of effective, caring and responsive.

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

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Homemead 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.