Harbour View Care Home

Updated 13 May 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

Two inspectors carried out the inspection.

Service and service type

Harbour View Care Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service did not have a manager registered with CQC. They had recently left, and an interim manager was in charge. This means that they and the registered provider was legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service, including information from the registered provider about important events that had taken place at the service, which they are required to send us. We sought feedback from the local authority. The registered provider was not asked to complete a registered provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

During the inspection

We spoke with seven people who lived at the home about their experiences of the care provided. We spoke with 13 members of staff including the interim manager, two regional managers, housekeeping staff and maintenance staff on the inspection. We reviewed a range of records. This included eight people’s care records, multiple medication records, accident and incident records, three staff recruitment records, rotas and staffing records and we looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service. We walked around the home and observed the environment and interactions between staff and people.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the manager to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records and sought feedback from health and social care professionals.

Updated 13 May 2022

About the service

Harbour View Care Home is a nursing home providing personal and nursing care for up to 50 adults. 45 people lived at the home at the time of the inspection.

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

People told us they felt safe living at the home and were supported by staff who knew how to raise safeguarding concerns. Safeguarding procedures were in place to protect people from the risk of abuse, and to educate staff on how to recognise and respond to concerns. However, infection prevention protocols were not robustly followed, and we were not assured by measures in place including measures to reduce the risks associated with COVID-19. We made a recommendation about infection prevention practices.

Risks to people were assessed and, in some cases,, actions had been taken to reduce the risks however, this was not always consistent because risk assessments were missing or not always up to date. People were supported to receive their medicines, however there were areas of improvement in staff training, record keeping and storage of unwanted medicines. We made a recommendation about medicines management.

Staff were recruited safely and there were adequate numbers deployed to support people. The premises and equipment have been serviced and maintained in line with manufacturer’s recommendations.

The registered provider and their staff used a variety of methods to assess and monitor the quality of the service. However, the provider’s systems and processes needed to be robust to ensure shortfalls were identified and acted on in a timely manner; including recommendations from other professionals. There had been a delay in rectifying shortfalls in IPC practices. Staff worked in partnership with a variety of agencies to ensure people's health and social needs were met. The provider had sought relevant authorisation to protect people from unlawful restriction under Deprivation of Liberties (DoLS). We received positive feedback from staff regarding management.

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

Rating at last inspection and update:

The last rating for this service was good (published 09 November 2018)

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about infection prevention practices, shortages of basic supplies and medicines management practices. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Harbour View Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

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 coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively.

Follow up

We will work alongside the registered provider and local authority to monitor progress and will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.