Archived: Hartrigg Oaks Domiciliary Care Agency

Hartrigg Oaks is a retirement village in New Earswick on the outskirts of the historic City of York. It is managed by the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust. Hartrigg Oaks is registered to provide personal care to people in their own homes. It has its own dedicated care team who provide both home help and personal care otherwise known as domiciliary care. At the time of the inspection there were 12 people receiving care and support services.

The service had a registered manager, who at the time of our inspection was on a secondment to another service. There was an acting manager in post and the registered manager also attended during our inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The home was previously inspected in July 2013, and at the time was meeting all regulations assessed during the inspection.

People who used the service told us they felt safe and staff had received training in safeguarding people from abuse. They understood how to protect people from avoidable harm and how to report their concerns.

People’s care plans contained consistent up to date information about their care and support including associated risk assessments and action plans. These were regularly reviewed and updated in line with the person’s changing needs.

The service had sufficient experienced staffing in place to meet the care and support needs for people using the service. Recruitment processes were robust and ensured that staff were of suitable character to work with vulnerable adults.

The registered provider had robust policies and procedures for the safe handling of medication. People were supported to take their medication as prescribed. Medicines were stored securely, and there were systems in place to monitor the quantities of medications kept, and to ensure that care workers were competent in the administering process.

Staff had received training in the Mental Capacity Act 2005, and we saw the registered provider followed and worked within the basic principles of the Act.

People were supported with special dietary requirements and had their nutritional needs assessed. Where the registered provider had concerns about a person’s weight, monitoring was carried out and people were supported by a range of health professionals to keep healthy.

We saw, and people told us that staff and others treated people in a caring way with respect and dignity. Care and support provided to people was person centred. This meant that people were actively involved in decisions about their health and care and that the care provided met with their needs and enabled them to be as independent as possible with a good, healthy quality of life.

People had access to a range of activities available in the wider Oaks village. Activities on offer ranged from access to the café restaurant to use of the gym and pool and trips out. Information was available for people to be involved, if they wished, in their community with meetings and events held that helped shape and improve the service.

The registered provider had a complaints procedure in place and people told us they understood how to complain and we saw that their complaints were acted upon.

People knew who the acting and registered manager were and told us that they found they were approachable and responsive to their concerns.

The registered provider undertook qualitative surveys with people receiving a service and employees. Feedback was analysed and we saw action plans and working groups were set up to respond to the feedback. All of this was used to help shape and improve the service people received.

People had care plans and risk assessments in place which helped staff to understand and meet people's needs. A person we spoke with said "The care and support here could not be improved upon." We saw that people were supported to maintain their independence where possible.

There were policies and procedures in place which helped to protect people from abuse. Issues raised were referred appropriately to the local authority's safeguarding of vulnerable adult's team for further investigation or advice. This helped to protect and safeguard people.

We saw that there were sufficient staff on duty and staff received training to ensure that they had the skills they needed to be able to look after people safely. A member of staff said "The training is excellent; it gives us the skills and knowledge we need to do our jobs properly." Training was updated periodically to help to maintain the staff's skills.

There were good quality monitoring systems in place to gain the views and opinions of people regarding the way in which the service was ran. One person told us "I am asked for my views and opinions. I used to attend lots of groups but I have stopped attending now."