Archived: Halcyon Days

Updated 22 July 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check 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.

This inspection took place on 16 and 31 May 2016 and was unannounced. The inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information available to us, such as notifications and information provided by the public or staff. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We also reviewed the report produced following a visit made by Healthwatch in January 2016.

During our inspection we spoke with seven people and three relatives of people who lived at the home. We also spoke with a nurse, a senior care worker, two care workers, the hostess who also assisted with activities, a cleaner, the deputy manager and the provider’s group operations manager. The manager was not available on the first day of the inspection, but we spoke with them when we returned to the service on the second day. We also attended a meeting with other health and social care professional who worked with the service and gained their views of the care that was provided.

We observed the interactions between members of staff and the people who lived at the home and looked at care records and risk assessments for four people. We completed Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI) observations to help us understand the experience of people who were not able to tell us for themselves. We also looked at how people’s medicines were managed and the ways in which complaints were handled.

We looked at three staff recruitment records and reviewed information on how the quality of the service, including the handling of complaints, was monitored and managed.

Updated 22 July 2016

This inspection was carried out 16 and 31 May 2016 and was unannounced

Halcyon Days provides care and accommodation for up to 57 people. At the time of our inspection there were 34 people living at the home. Some people living at the home may be living with dementia.

The home was required to have a registered manager in post but at the time of our inspection the manager had not completed their application to register with The Care Quality Commission as the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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 received their medicines as they had been prescribed. Medicines were administered by staff who were trained and assessed as competent to do so.

Staff were aware of the safeguarding process. Personalised risk assessments were in place to reduce the risk of harm to people, as were risk assessments connected to the running of the home, and these were reviewed regularly. Accidents and incidents were recorded and the causes of these analysed so that preventative action could be taken to reduce the number of occurrences.

There were enough skilled, qualified staff to provide for people’s needs. Robust recruitment and selection processes were in place and the provider had taken steps to ensure that staff were suitable to work with people who lived at the home. They received training to ensure that they had the necessary skills to care for and support the people who lived at the home and were supported by way of supervisions and appraisals.

People’s needs had been assessed before they moved into the home and they had been involved in determining their care needs and the way in which their care was to be delivered. Their consent was gained before any care was provided and the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and associated Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards were met.

People had a variety of nutritious food and drink available to them. Snacks, fruit and a choice of drinks were available to people throughout the day.

Staff were kind, caring and protected people’s dignity. They treated people with respect and supported people in a way that allowed them to be as independent as possible.

There was an effective complaints system in place. Information was available to people about how they could make a complaint should they need to. People were assisted to access other healthcare professionals to maintain their health and well-being.

People and staff were encouraged to attend meetings with the manager at which they could discuss aspects of the service and care delivery. People were asked for feedback about the service to enable improvements to be made. There was an effective quality assurance system in place.