CQC report explained · a residential care home
What the CQC found at Neath Hill Care Home
Rated Good: inspectors found the home performing well and meeting their expectations.
- Safe?
- Good
- Inspectors were assured that infection risks were being managed through visitor controls, testing, PPE, cleaning, zoning and isolation. The provider also said it had measures to manage COVID-19-related staffing pressures.
- Effective?
- Good
- Does the care work? Training, consent, food and drink, working with GPs and nurses.
- Caring?
- Good
- Are people treated with kindness and dignity?
- Responsive?
- Good
- Is care built around the person? Care plans, activities, complaints.
- Well-led?
- Good
- Is the home run well? The manager, the culture, how problems get found and fixed.
What inspectors found, January 2022
Neath Hill Care Home was inspected but not rated; inspectors found good infection control arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Inspectors visited the home on 21 January 2022. This was an announced, targeted inspection focused on infection prevention and control, with questions also asked about staffing pressures.
Inspectors were assured that the home had safe arrangements for visitors, testing, personal protective equipment, cleaning, isolation and managing outbreaks. They also found that staff and visiting professionals met COVID-19 vaccination requirements, unless exempt.
The home was inspected but not rated. This means the visit did not give a new overall quality rating or a full set of ratings for all five areas of care.
Visitor safety
The home used a booking system, rapid testing, vaccination evidence, temperature checks and signing in to manage visits.
“Safe arrangements were in place for visitors to the service including relatives and friends, professionals and others.” from the report
Infection control
Inspectors found enhanced cleaning and disinfection, suitable PPE and safe disposal of used PPE.
“Enhanced cleaning and disinfection of all areas of the service continued to take place to reduce the risk of cross contamination.” from the report
Outbreak planning
The home used isolation, zoning and staff allocation to reduce the spread of infection when needed. Regular testing supported quick action after positive results.
“Isolation, co-horting and zoning were used to manage the risk of infection spread.” from the report
Management oversight
Inspectors said the registered manager had good oversight of infection prevention and control, supported by checks and up-to-date policies.
“The registered manager had good oversight of infection prevention and control processes.” from the report
Inspectors raised no specific concerns in this report.
- 01How are you currently managing staffing pressures, and could these affect people's care?
- 02What arrangements are currently in place for relatives and other visitors?
- 03How do you manage a suspected or confirmed infection outbreak in the home?
- 04How often are people living in the home and staff tested when infection risks arise?
- 05How do you check that cleaning, PPE use and infection control policies are being followed?
This was a targeted inspection of infection prevention and control, with some questions about staffing pressures; it did not provide ratings for the other areas of care. This explanation was written from the published report of 28 January 2022 by an AI system and checked against the report text: every quoted line appears in the report. It is a guide to the report, not a substitute for it. Read the full report on cqc.org.uk.
What inspectors found, July 2019
Neath Hill Care Home was rated Good; inspectors found safe, kind and personalised care, with some equipment and activities issues.
This was an unannounced inspection on 9 July 2019. Inspectors spoke with seven people living at the home, three care staff, the chef, a visiting nurse and the manager. They reviewed three care plans, staff recruitment and training records, medicines records and quality checks.
All five areas were rated Good: Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led. Inspectors found that people were protected from abuse, medicines were handled safely, staff were trained and there were enough staff during the inspection.
People described staff as kind, respectful and familiar with their needs. Care plans reflected people's preferences, health needs were supported and complaints were recorded and investigated. Inspectors found that some floor sensors were not working or switched on correctly, but this was fixed immediately. Some people also wanted more activities at weekends and more time to chat with staff.
Safe medicines
Inspectors found that medicines were stored securely, given by trained staff and checked for errors. Records were accurate.
“Medicines were stored securely, and medication administration records in use were accurate, and regularly checked for any mistakes.” from the report
Kind and respectful care
People said staff treated them with kindness and respect. Inspectors also observed warm and friendly interactions.
“Staff treated people with kindness, dignity and respect and spent time getting to know them.” from the report
Personalised support
Care plans included people's preferences, personal histories and health needs. People and families were involved in care planning where possible.
“Care plans we looked at were personalised and contained information about people's personal and family history.” from the report
Good management checks
Management carried out detailed audits covering areas such as health and safety, maintenance and medicines. Improvements were made when errors were found.
“Audits of the service were detailed and any issues found were addressed promptly.” from the report
Safety sensors
seriousSome floor sensors intended to alert staff when a person got out of bed were not working or had not been switched on correctly. The manager corrected this during the inspection.
“We found some floor sensors that were in place to alert staff if a person had got out of bed, were either not working or not switched on correctly.” from the report
- 01How do you now check that floor sensors are working and switched on correctly?
- 02What extra activities are available at weekends since the inspection?
- 03How do you make sure staff have enough time to chat with residents?
- 04How are families involved in reviewing and changing their relative's care plan?
- 05How do you monitor medicines records and act when an error is found?
This was an unannounced planned inspection covering all five CQC questions, and all five ratings remained Good from the previous inspection in 2017. This explanation was written from the published report of 19 July 2019 by an AI system and checked against the report text: every quoted line appears in the report. It is a guide to the report, not a substitute for it. Read the full report on cqc.org.uk.
Every inspection of Neath Hill Care Home
3 rated inspections over 4 years: the service has held its Good rating throughout.
- January 2022Inspected but not ratedcurrent ratingSafe: Inspected but not rated
- July 2019Goodstayed GoodSafe: GoodEffective: GoodCaring: GoodResponsive: GoodWell-led: Good
- March 2017Goodstayed GoodSafe: GoodEffective: GoodCaring: GoodResponsive: GoodWell-led: Good
- March 2015GoodSafe: GoodEffective: GoodCaring: GoodResponsive: GoodWell-led: Good
- June 2013
Report published without a new overall rating.
- January 2013
Report published without a new overall rating.
- August 2011
Report published without a new overall rating.
- December 2010
Registered with the Care Quality Commission on 13 December 2010.
Ratings and report dates from the Care Quality Commission, Open Government Licence v3.0. A home can also be visited without a new rating being published, so the timeline shows published inspections.
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