We thought it might be useful to residents, potential residents, their relatives and friends to summarise our response to the Care Quality Commission’s latest inspection report, published on the 28th of March 2017, setting out the actions we are taking to improve care at Hollybank rest home.

We were grateful that the Care Quality Commission noted good practice in many inspected areas, including ‘good’ status for being ‘caring’, ‘effective’ and ‘responsive’. Their overall rating for the home was that we ‘requires improvement’, however, singling out two areas at the time of their inspection. We value the Care Quality Commission’s view of how we deliver care and recognise that we need to improve services at Hollybank.

We were pleased that the Care Quality Commission noted:

‘The manager and staff all showed a genuine interest in the people they supported. We saw a considerable number of warm and friendly exchanges between staff and people and the atmosphere in the communal areas was good natured and sociable. People looked relaxed and happy in the company of the staff who throughout our visit appeared attentive and happy in their work. The wider staff team were also observed to be kind and caring.’

‘We observed that one staff member ate their lunch with people, sharing conversation with them. Staff spoke fondly about the people they supported and it was clear that they knew them well and had developed a meaningful relationship with each person.’

We are already addressing issues identified in the report but there are several areas in which ongoing work is needed to achieve best practice, and we want to reassure you that we are taking appropriate actions. We believe that setting out these actions will help everyone interested in care at Hollybank Rest Home to understand the inspection report and how we are improving the care we offer. Report findings and actions The Care Quality Commission asked us to ensure the safe and proper use of medicines. To ensure that we improve in these areas: • We immediately instructed our Social Care Consultant to support us in ensuring that we addressed the areas of concern. • Medication audit is now carried out on a weekly basis by the medication lead. / • A new monthly, more comprehensive audit is being carried out by the homes registered manager • Retraining and monitoring of staff administering medication • A new medication lead was trained and appointed to take over from/work in partnership with the existing medication lead.

We are working to ensure that we meet Care Quality Commission requirements and are monitoring our progress carefully, including external from an independent Care Consultant and we will also be monitored by the Care Quality Commission. As the Registered Manager for Hollybank Rest Home these actions are currently accountable to me.

If you would like to talk about any of the issues this raises I would be pleased to do so.

Erin O’Shea
Registered Manager
01st April 2017