Updated 22 May 2019
The inspection:
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team:
The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an assistant inspector.
Service and service type:
Care Assure Northampton Limited provides care and support to people with mental health needs living in five ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s care and support.
At the time of the inspection the service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. Having a registered manager means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. The registered manager had left the service and deregistered on 17 September 2018. A registered manager from another service within the provider organisation was providing managerial support and was going to apply to have this location added to their registration. They were supported by a deputy manager and an area operations manager.
Notice of inspection:
We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because the manager is often out of the office supporting staff. We needed to be sure that they would be in.
Inspection site visit activity started on 25 April 2019 and ended on 01 May 2019. We visited the office location on 25 April to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures. We visited one person and met with staff on 30 April, and telephoned people and staff on 29 April and 1 May 2019.
What we did:
We reviewed the information we had about the service which included any notifications that had been sent to us. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law.
We contacted health and social care commissioners who monitor the care and support the people receive from the service.
Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. The provider returned the PIR and we took this into account when we made judgements in this report.
During the inspection, we spoke with four people who used the service. We also had discussions with eight members of staff that included three support workers, two senior support workers, office administrator, the deputy support manager and the manager.
We reviewed three people’s care records, three staff files and reviewed records relating to the management of medicines, complaints and how the provider monitored the quality of the service.