Hillbeck Residential Care Home

We conducted an unannounced inspection to follow up 4 breaches of legal regulation identified at the previous inspection. We found improvements had been made and the service was no longer in breach of regulations. The rating of the service had improved from “Inadequate” to “Good” following this inspection.

A new management team were in place who introduced positive improvements in the quality of care and people’s experience of living at Hillbeck. People, relatives and staff expressed confidence in their leadership, and that they were approachable, open to feedback and would act upon any concerns raised.

Risks to people posed by their health and care needs were well managed, with clear guidance in place which was regularly reviewed. This ensured staff had up to date information on the care people required to meet their needs. Where people’s needs changed or they became unwell, there were strong relationships with wider health and care organisations which meant referrals were made proactively to ensure people received the support they required. There were positive monitoring systems in place to review people’s ongoing welfare and experience of care. Some minor improvements were needed in areas of medication practice to ensure this aligned with best practice for specific medications.

People lived in an environment which was clean and well maintained. At times it was a noisy and busy environment due to how the communal areas were being used at the time of inspection, however action was taken to address this once raised by ensuring other communal spaces that were underutilised were used for activities.

There were a wide variety of activities in place which included visits from external organisations and community groups, as well as people being able to enjoy time in the garden.

Staff acted with kindness and compassion to ensure people’s needs were met promptly. They were safely recruited and had the skills and training needed to support people. Although some staff told us they felt staffing levels in place were low, they were not concerned that this was to the extent that would place people at risk of harm. The provider had a system to calculate staffing levels dependent on people’s needs and occupancy.

There was positive culture where any safety incidents were reported and learned from to promote ongoing quality improvement. Governance systems in place were robust at identifying improvements. However, we identified some further improvements were required around medication management, how any restrictions on people were documented and usage of the environment in a way that was consistently dementia friendly. Leaders were responsive and made immediate improvements to all areas identified during the inspection.

The service was previously placed into “Special Measures” which is an enhanced level of monitoring due to risks to the safety of people. Following this inspection, sufficient improvements have been made, and the service has been removed from special measures.