27 July 2015
During an inspection looking at part of the service
We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 13 January 2015. A breach of three legal requirements was found. These were in relation to people’s right to consent, their care and welfare and the management of the home.
After the comprehensive inspection, the provider wrote to us to say what they would do to meet the legal requirements in relation to assessing and planning and providing people with the care to meet their individual needs; quality assurance and making sure how people’s rights to consent were valued.
Following our comprehensive inspection we received information of concerns in relation to people’s medicines and the level of activities provided that were meaningful to people.
We undertook this unannounced focused inspection on 27 July 2015 to check that the provider had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements. We also undertook the inspection to check if people health and social needs were being met. We found that the provider had followed their plan which they had told us would be completed by the 31 May 2015 and legal requirements had been met.
This report only covers our findings in relation to this topic. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Heron House Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Heron House Care Home is registered to provide accommodation and care, including nursing care, for up to 92 people, some of whom have mental health needs. The home is arranged in four named individual units, Heron Court, Wendreda, Eastwood and Nene. At the time of the inspection there were 70 people living at the home.
A registered manager was not in post at the time of our inspection. There has not been a registered manager in post since December 2014 when their application to voluntarily cancel their registration was approved. 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. The provider had appointed a new manager who was applying to be registered.
Action had been taken in relation to making sure people’s rights in making or being supported with making decisions about their care were protected. People’s mental capacity was assessed and when people were assessed not to have mental capacity, their care was provided in their best interests. This included being given their prescribed medicines hidden in food and drink.
Action had also taken regarding people’s care and welfare. People were assessed for pain and they were given medicines when they experienced pain. Staff had an understanding of the individual communication and behavioural needs of people living with dementia. People were assessed and treated by a range of staff who were employed by health care services.
Some of the people said that they had enough to do as they liked to watch television and read. However, there was a lack of meaningful day-to-day activities to promote people’s sense of well-being. Some people were not supported to take part in activities that were meaningful to them and this had a negative effect on their sense of well-being. Work was in progress to improve how people spent their day, and more staff were being recruited.
Action had been taken to improve the quality assurance systems. Audits were in place to improve the management of people’s medicines and people’s care records. Learning had taken place in relation to errors in the recording and administration of people’s medicines.
Each of the four units were managed by a designated member of staff who were responsible for making sure that staff provided people with safe and good quality care and care that respected their dignity. We found that the leadership of two of the four units had not made sure people that were always kept safe and that they received quality and effective care.