Care home lifted out of special measures
AN EAST Staffordshire care home rated as inadequate has improved enough to be taken out of special measures after another inspection from health watchdog officials.
Highfield Court, in Stafford Road, Uttoxeter, had been rated as “inadequate” after a visit in December last year which saw it placed in special measures as inspectors found ‘multiple breaches of regulation’.
However, staff have now turned things around somewhat and after the latest visit on August 26 inspectors found that improvements had been made. But the home has been told it still has a way to go.
In the Care Quality Commission (CQC) report published earlier this month, inspectors decided the home had improved enough to move up a level to “requires improvement”. There are other levels above this - “good” and “outstanding”. The report states that improvements had been made since the previous visit, but further improvements were still needed.
Highfield Court, which is owned by Rushcliffe Care, provides accommodation with personal care to a maximum of 59 people aged 18 and over with a mental health condition, learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder. At the time of the inspection 46 people lived at the home. Lisa Orme, assistant director of learning disability services, said they were proud of the latest findings as they continued to work to improve. She said: “Myself and the new management team have spent nearly 12 months improving elements of the previous CQC inspection which placed us in special measures.
“We knew we had improved and invited the inspectors in and they suggested improvements had taken place. We’re very proud of that. Some of the residents that live here have lived here for a while and this is their home.
“We are so proud of the services we offer and we have an activity hub and internal activities for the residents. We know how good we are here and we want that good in writing. The CQC inspector can see that and we know we are not ready for it yet as they need to see the longevity of the plans we have in place.”
She added that they had a list of 100 actions that needed to be taken and now only have eight to complete, which were mainly to do with training which had proved difficult to complete due to the pandemic.
The report states that improvements to the management of medicines had been made but they needed to be improved further to ensure they were administered safely. Lisa said this was a work in progress and at the time of the visit there was a problem with one of the blister packs that had been sent by the pharmacy.
They were now working more robustly with the pharmacy and risk assessments have been put in place.
People’s fluid intake was found not always to be monitored and “timely” action was not taken when their fluid intake was low.
She said they had now challenged this in the inspection as it was on one resident’s records and had not been removed but they did not have a requirement for the staff to monitor their intake.
The inspector noted that although effective prevention and control systems were in place, staff did not always follow them and not all of the staff wore PPE correctly. She said this was when staff were having a “face-break” from the masks as they wear them for 12 hours a day. It is done on an allocated break time and away from everyone else.
They also now had a daily allocation checklist to make sure they have everything they need for the day.
The CQC inspector said: “Since our previous inspection, significant improvement had been made at the home. “Feedback from people and staff was positive about the changes which had been made. Despite the improvements, there was still further improvement required and the home needs to demonstrate the improvements can be sustained. People were happy with the care and support they received and gave positive comments about the staff and management at the home.”
We knew we had improved and invited the inspectors in.
Lisa Orme