Garden Hill Care Centre

Updated 9 September 2021

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

The inspection team was made up of two inspectors and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Garden Hill Care Centre is a ‘care home’. 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. However, the registered manager left the service in March 2021 but had yet to cancel their registration with the Commission. Registered managers and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. The provider has recruited a new manager who is currently being supported by a registered manager from another home, a deputy manager and regional management. They had commenced the registration process at the time of the inspection.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced.

We gave the manager short notice of the inspection to ensure it was safe for us to visit the home and to allow the manager, being very new in post, to ensure appropriate people were in attendance to assist with the inspection.

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 professionals who work with the service. We also contacted Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

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

We spoke with five people and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 13 members of staff including the regional director, the head of internal audit, the manager, a registered manager from another service, deputy manager, six care staff, a chef and the activities co-ordinator. 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.

We reviewed documentation, inspected the safety of the premises and carried out observations in communal areas. We reviewed a range of records including five people’s care records, medicines records and quality audits. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We also gathered further evidence in relation to quality audits.

Updated 9 September 2021

About the service

Garden Hill Care Centre is a care home that provides personal care for up to 40 people, some of whom are living with dementia. At the time of the inspection there were 32 people living in the home.

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

People felt safe living in the home and with the support they received from staff. People spoke very highly of the staff and said they were kind, patient and always treated them with dignity. People and relatives said, “The staff are very good, and we have plenty of laughs. They are very kind and give any help we need” and, “The staff are lovely people and I have a great respect for them, they are empathetic to me as well.”

People were safeguarded from abuse. Risks to individuals and the environment were well managed. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. The provider learned from accidents and incidents to mitigate future risks. Medicines were safely managed. Infection control processes were embedded into the service and staff followed government guidance in relation to infection control and prevention practices, in particular, relating to COVID-19.

People were well supported and cared for. Staff treated people with respect and supported them in a dignified manner and in line with their wishes. A relative told us, “The staff treat everyone with dignity and patience.” People were encouraged to be as independent as possible, where it was safe to do so.

The home was well managed. People and relatives were complimentary about the home and care people received. A relative told us, “Generally we are happy with the care and service and wouldn’t move [family member] anywhere else. Everyone appears well looked after. The atmosphere is good, the carers make it like they are all family.” The provider had an effective quality assurance process in place which included regular audits. People and relatives were regularly consulted about the quality of the service through surveys, meetings and reviews.

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 requires improvement (published 19 September 2019).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to people’s care and support, staffing levels, and the management of the home. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, caring 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. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns. Please see the safe, caring and well-led sections of this full report.

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.

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

Follow up

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