Prospect Place

Updated 6 April 2023

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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by an inspector and an expert by experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is bought or rented and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 6 people who used the service and a relative about people’s experience of the care provided. We also spoke with 7 members of staff including the registered manager, deputy manager, care coordinator, senior carer and 3 care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 3 people’s care records, and 2 people’s medication records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment and supervision, and the staff training matrix. A variety of records relating to the management of the service were viewed, including

quality checks and audits.

Updated 6 April 2023

About the service

Prospect Place is an extra care service providing personal care to adults and older people who live in their own flats in a multi-occupational house. This includes people with a physical disability, dementia, mental health or learning disability. At the time of our inspection there were 16 people using the service.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

Right Support: Staff did not consistently support people with their medicines. This was addressed by the provider once it had been brought to their attention.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; however, the policies and systems in the service did not always support this practice.

Staff supported people to access health and social care support in the community. This included supporting people to take part in activities available in their home.

Right Care: People could not always be assured staff knew how to support them with their individual health or medical needs. This was because specific guidance about how to support people was not always available to staff.

People were supported by staff who had been trained in how to care for them. Additional staff training to support people with a learning disability was planned to ensure staff had the necessary skills to understand and support them if they needed care.

People told us they received kind and compassionate care from staff who understood them well and enjoyed their company. A person told us, “Definitely recommend: The staff friendship and humour. They are really kind and would go to the ends of the earth to help you.”

There were enough staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. The service was flexible and could adapt to meet people’s changing needs. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse.

Right Culture: Quality assurance and monitoring systems were not always effective in monitoring the service nor identifying shortfalls so improvements could be made.

People benefited from the open and positive culture of the service where the staff and care coordinator were approachable. Comments about the staff included, “They all pull together. I cannot thank them enough”; and “If they have a concern, when the carers are passing they’ll knock and check to see if you are okay.” Compliments about the care coordinator included, “If I ring and ask to speak with the care coordinator and they’re busy, they don’t forget you; they make time for you.”

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 22 October 2021 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. This included concerns about the overall management of the service. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspection.