Heaton House Care Home

This report from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) provides an overview of Heaton House Care Home following an inspection on 21 June 2023. The inspection assessed the home against key areas including safety, effectiveness of care, how caring the service is, responsiveness to needs, and leadership. The findings highlight specific areas for improvement and acknowledge the positive aspects of the care provided. This summary aims to give families a clear understanding of the inspection's outcomes.

In terms of safety, while some recruitment processes were immediately addressed by the provider, there were inconsistencies in medicine management, record-keeping, and significant delays in addressing identified environmental risks. Safeguarding concerns were not always responded to effectively, and there were gaps in reference checks and DBS certificate details. The home also needs to strengthen its systems for managing risks associated with the building and patient care, ensuring all identified issues are actioned promptly.

Regarding how effective the care is, the service has improved in adapting its environment to meet residents' needs, notably reverting an office back into a communal lounge. However, staff support, induction, and training require significant development, with gaps in mandatory training and inconsistent assessment of staff training needs. There is also a need for a more structured supervision program for staff to ensure they are adequately equipped.

On the caring aspect, residents and their relatives felt that the staff understood their needs, promoted independence and dignity, and protected privacy. Staff demonstrated a good understanding of person-centred care, and residents described them as kind, hardworking, and beautiful, indicating a positive and respectful environment.

In terms of responsiveness, the home has made improvements to care plans, particularly for oral care and communication. However, there is a need to develop a more varied and meaningful activities program, as current engagement is limited. The provider also needs to ensure their complaints policy is consistently followed, with a clear audit trail for all logged complaints and evidence of lessons learned.

Finally, looking at how well-led the service is, there's a clear need for improved oversight of systems and processes by the provider and registered manager. Audits were not consistently carried out, leading to unaddressed issues. The provider needs to ensure robust systems for communication with CQC, particularly regarding notifications, and strengthen their duty of candour procedures. While staff reported feeling supported, improved governance is essential to ensure all aspects of the service are managed effectively.