This announced inspection took place on 26 July 2015. We told the provider two days before our visit that we would be coming. We did this because the service is small and the manager and/or deputy are often out of the office supporting people or staff in the community. We needed to be sure that they would be in.
EnhanceAble Space is a respite care service that offers support and activities during the day and accommodation overnight. It provides accommodation for up to five people and support services for up to eight people with learning and physical disabilities. There were six people receiving daycare services and of those people, two were receiving overnight accommodation at the home on the day we visited.
This is the first inspection for this service since it was registered on 28 April 2014.
The service had a manager at the time of the inspection, this person had applied to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to be registered . A registered manager is a person who has registered with the 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 manager was on leave on the day of our visit but we met with the deputy manager and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), who was a former manager for this service.
People were safe at the home. The provider took appropriate steps to protect people from abuse, neglect or harm. Care plans showed that staff assessed the risks to people's health, safety and welfare. Where risks were identified management plans were in place.
We saw that regular checks of maintenance and service records were conducted. A recent food standards agency inspection gave the kitchen a rating of five. These checks helped to ensure the home and any equipment used was safe.
We observed that there were sufficient numbers of qualified staff to care for and support people and to meet their needs. We looked at staff files and saw the provider had followed their recruitment procedures to ensure that only suitable staff were recruited to work with people.
People were supported by staff to take their medicines when they needed them and records were kept of medicines taken. Medicines were stored in locked cupboards. The checks the provider made and the safe storage of medicines helped to ensure that people were safe from medicines errors.
Staff had the skills, experiences and a good understanding of how to meet people’s needs. People were cared for by staff who received appropriate training and support. Staff spoke positively about the support they received from the manager, the deputy and CEO and through training.
The service had taken appropriate action to ensure the requirements were followed for the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). These safeguards ensure that a service only deprives someone of their liberty in a safe and correct way, when it is in their best interests and there is no other way to look after them.
EnhanceAble Space was based in a large house with rooms on two floors including two fully accessible en-suite bedrooms.There was a sensory room that could also be used as a quiet chill out space and a large garden with a sunken trampoline. We saw that people could choose which area of the house they would like to be in and staff assisted them to do this.
People were supported to eat and drink sufficient amounts to meet their needs. We saw meals were prepared according to people’s wishes on the day the person visited.
Staff took appropriate action to ensure people received the care and support they needed from healthcare professionals. This helped to ensure people needs were met in the most appropriate way.
All the bedrooms were en-suite and unoccupied bedrooms could be used by a person during the day. This flexibility in the use of the rooms meant that people could choose where they wanted to be and how they wanted to spend their time.
People were supported by caring staff. We saw people were happy being around the staff and relaxed in answering our questions. People could choose which days and times they came to the house, sometimes when they knew their friends would also be there and this made for a very sociable time.
We observed when providing personal care this was done in the privacy of the bedrooms or bathrooms. This was done to ensure people’s privacy and uphold their dignity.
People’s needs were assessed and information from these assessments had been used to plan the support they received. This was all explained to the person in an easy to understand way.
Support plans were in an easy read format, written in the first person and comprehensive in their content. The support people received was tailored to their individual needs and was designed to be adaptable to the person on the day. This flexibility and awareness of a person’s individual needs helped to ensure that people received the support they needed.
People could choose individually what activities they would like to do and how they would like to spend their time at the service and staff supported people to do these activities. Staff said the service was flexible and could accommodate a person’s change of mind at any time.
The provider had arrangements in place to respond appropriately to people’s concerns and complaints. People said they felt happy to speak up when necessary.
We could see that people who used the service knew who all the staff were by name and could freely chat with them at any time.
The service was led by a manager, and supported by a deputy manager and the CEO. It was clear they had a good understanding of their management role and the provider’s legal obligations with regard to CQC including the requirements for submission of notifications of relevant events and changes.
The service had policies and procedures in place and these were readily available for staff to refer to when necessary.
Regular team meetings took place and staff discussed respecting people’s dignity, policy and procedure changes or updates and improvements that could be made. These meetings gave the staff team an opportunity to share information and knowledge.
The provider had systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of the service. They conducted monthly health and safety checks of the home including the environment, people’s rooms and equipment.
The provider organised a one day staff conference to give staff the opportunity to think how they could support people as individuals and work together as a team.