The Hall

Updated 14 June 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 completed by one inspector.

Service and service type:

The Hall is a care home that provides accommodation and personal care to ten people with learning disabilities aged from 16 years.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This 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.

Notice of inspection:

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did:

Providers are required to send us key information about their service, what they do well and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

We also reviewed other information we held about the service. This included notifications of incidents the registered persons had sent us since the last inspection. These are events that have happened in the service that the registered persons are required to tell us about. Safeguarding events and any complaints or whistleblowing’s we had received.

During the inspection we met eight of the people living in the service. Not everyone was able to tell us in detail about their experiences and others did not wish to engage. We spent time observing, sitting and talking with some of the people who did, and this gave us insight into their experiences of living in the service. We also spoke with eight staff including a director of the company, the deputy manager, human resources manager, three support staff, housekeeper and maintenance person

We reviewed two peoples records that described how their care had been provided and operational records that told us how the service was run. This included three staff recruitment, training and supervision records. We looked at the management of medication and complaints, and the health and safety checks that were made to keep people safe. We also looked at the systems and processes used by the registered persons to monitor service quality.

After the inspection we invited feedback from three care managers responsible for managing the care packages of four people placed at The Hall. We also sought feedback from three relatives. We did this so that they could tell us their views about how well the service was meeting people's needs and wishes. This information helps support our inspections.

Updated 14 June 2019

About the service:

The Hall is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to 10 people who may have a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder. At the time of the inspection there were no vacancies.

The service had been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensured that people could live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence.

Following the last inspection, we asked the provider to complete an action plan to show what they would do and by when to improve the key question(s) of Safe, Effective and Well led to at least good. At this inspection we found that staff recruitment checks had been strengthened, New staff now received a good level of induction. A staff appraisal system had been developed. Surveys were sent out to stakeholders to obtain feedback about the service, and this information was used for service development. The provider had implemented a more robust system of quality audits, this gave them greater oversight and assurance of about what was happening in the service.

For more details, please read the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

People's experience of using the service:

At this inspection we identified that whilst staff had the right knowledge and skills to provide people with safe care and support, the training matrix recording staff training had not been kept updated to provide a live and accurate picture of completed staff training, this was an area for improvement.

People told us they liked living at the service and happy with the support they received. There was a friendly atmosphere and people were relaxed in the company of staff and actively sought them out. Staff were respectful and kind in their interactions with people.

Staff understood their responsibilities to safeguard and protect people from abuse. Risks to people were assessed and steps taken to reduce the likelihood of harm occurring. Accidents and incidents were appropriately responded to and reported on by staff and learning from these informed updates to care and support information to minimise recurrence.

People lived in a safe well-maintained environment, daily and weekly health and safety checks were conducted by staff and servicing of equipment helped maintain a safe environment for people.

People were consulted about their care and support needs and were enabled to develop preferred activities and interests

There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. A safe system of recruitment was in place for new staff.

Peoples medicines were managed safely and they received appropriate healthcare support when needed.

Peoples consent had been obtained and they and their relatives were consulted and informed about the care provided. Relatives said they felt able to approach the registered provider and manager with any concerns and people were empowered to use the complaints process and felt listened to.

Rating at last inspection:

Requires Improvement (the inspection report was published on 3 May 2018) At this inspection in May 2019 the overall rating of the service has improved to ‘good in four domains.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating we gave the service at the last inspection in February 2018.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit in line with our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.