Hailsham House

Updated 1 May 2024

Date of assessment 20 May 2024 to 19 June 2024. Hailsham House provides nursing care and accommodation for up to 119 people who live with a dementia type illness, for example, Korsakoff’s disease or/and a mental health illness, such as Schizophrenia. The home also provides care and support for people with Huntington’s chorea and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease The home is divided in to four units, (Holly, Willow, Orchard, and Beech) each with their own lounge and dining areas. There were 69 people living in the service at the time of inspection. This inspection was prompted due to information received of risk and concern in relation to staffing and safeguarding. A decision was made to complete an onsite assessment and examine those risks. The service was previously inspected in January 2023 with improvement needed in safe care and governance. At this assessment we found that the breaches of regulation were met but needed time to embed into everyday practice to ensure peoples safety and well-being. Overall, Hailsham House remains requires improvement. People were generally happy with their care. Risk assessments and care plans were in place but the information recorded was not always detailed. Risks to people were not always identified or actioned. Staff did not always support people to make day to day decisions about their care and preferences. The provider did not have effective systems in place to ensure lessons were learned when things went wrong. The management team immediately put actions in place that mitigated risk to people’s safety and wellbeing. Staff promoted equality and diversity and respected people's cultural needs. Staff were positive about the leadership of the home. Relatives were welcome in the home at any time and there were no restrictions on visiting. Feedback we received from healthcare professionals stated the service was responsive and managed people's risks well.

Updated 1 May 2024

During our assessment we spoke with 35 people and 18 relatives. This assessment was supported by 2 Experts-by-Experience who spoke with people who used the service and their relatives. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. 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. People were observed to be happy while living at the home. Feedback from people and relatives was mixed. People said that staff were kind and caring. One person told us, “The staff are nice, I like living here.” People felt safe and well cared for by staff at the home. People told us they were not always supported to have choice and control of their lives. A person told us, “I do make choices, but sometimes choices are made for me.” Some people told us they did not always feel listened to. A person told us, “I can’t talk to the staff, they dismiss anything I say, I feel very alone.” A relative told us, “We raised concerns two months ago and still not had a response.” We observed positive interactions between staff and people. People were supported to access healthcare. Staff and leaders worked with external professionals to ensure people’s needs were met.