Hill View Care Home

Hill View Care Home is a residential care home which provides personal care and nursing care for up to 45 older people, younger adults, people with a physical disability, mental health support needs, and people living with dementia. Accommodation is provided over two floors and a passenger lift is available to provide access to both floors. At the time of the inspection 31 people were living at the home.

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

People told us they felt safe living at the home and there were enough staff to provide support when they needed it. Staff followed safe infection control practices, including wearing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect people from COVID-19 and the risk of cross infection. Staff were recruited safely and knew the action to take if people were at risk of abuse or avoidable harm. Staff managed people’s medicines safely, in line with national guidance. The safety of the home environment was checked regularly.

People received support which reflected their needs and risks. Staff received the induction and training they needed to support people well. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People received support with their dietary and healthcare needs and were referred for specialist support when they needed it. We received positive feedback from community professionals about the support provided. The home environment was purpose built to enable people to remain as independent as possible. The provider had made some improvements to the environment since taking over the service and further improvements were planned.

People told us staff were caring, kind and treated them well. We observed staff treating people with respect and encouraging them to be independent and make decisions about their care when they were able to. Staff respected people's right to privacy, dignity and confidentiality. Care plans included information about people’s backgrounds and diversity, to guide staff about what was important to them.

Staff provided people with personalised care that reflected their needs and preferences. People’s care needs were reviewed regularly, and documentation was updated to guide staff. Staff knew the people they cared for and encouraged them to make choices when they could. The provider managed concerns and complaints appropriately. People were happy with the range of activities available at the home. End of life care documentation needed to be improved to ensure it reflected people’s end of life care wishes, we have made a recommendation about this.

The manager and staff were clear about their responsibilities and focussed on providing people with high quality, individualised care. The service worked in partnership with a variety of community professionals to ensure people received any specialist support they needed. Management sought people’s views about the service and acted upon them. People, relatives and staff felt the management of the service had improved significantly since the regional support manager had taken over the day to day running of the home. The regular checks and audits completed by management were effective in ensuring appropriate standards of quality and safety were maintained at the home.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for the service under the previous provider was good (published 7 April 2020).

We also completed a targeted infection prevention and control inspection of the service on 10 November 2020 (published 18 November 2020) and were assured that people were receiving safe care which protected them from the risk of cross infection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the service’s date of registration under the new provider. The inspection was also prompted in part due to a number of anonymous concerns received about a variety of issues, including neglect, inappropriate staff conduct and the management of the service. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns.

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.

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.

We found the following examples of good practice:

Staff wore full personal protective equipment (PPE) at all times to ensure people were protected as much as possible from the risk of cross infection. Enhanced cleaning was in place, with areas that were touched often being cleaned frequently. A 'fogging' machine was used to clean and disinfect communal areas and individual rooms, to help control the spread of the Covid 19 virus.

Visitors were required to book an appointment, to ensure the number of people visiting the home at any one time was limited. Visitors were screened for Covid 19 symptoms on arrival and were required to wear appropriate PPE and maintain social distancing during their visit.

People were supported to maintain contact with their friends and relatives through video calls and increased phone calls. The provider was arranging for increased safe visiting opportunities to be made available to people and their friends and family, to reduce the likelihood of them feeling socially isolated and improve their wellbeing.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.