Montgomery Court

Updated 22 March 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 one inspector.

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.

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

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 5 people who used the service about their 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 daily notes 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 22 March 2023

About the service

Montgomery Court 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 33 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.

Right Support: 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. This was because the provider had not checked if people had appointed someone else to be responsible for their health or welfare.

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

Staff supported people to access health and social care support in the community. This included supporting people to take part in activities and pursue their interests in their local area.

Right Care: Staff demonstrated they knew how to support people’s individual health and medical needs. However, this guidance was not always available to staff to ensure these needs were consistently met.

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.

People told us they received kind and compassionate care from staff who understood them well and enjoyed their company. 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 identifying shortfalls and improving the service for the people who used it. People’s views were regularly received through feedback and also through any complaints raised. However, the provider had not analysed the feedback they had received to identify if there were any reoccurring themes or areas where improvements were required.

People benefitted from the open and positive culture of the service where the management team was approachable.

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.

Enforcement and Recommendations

At this inspection we have identified a breach in relation to shortfalls in the oversight and quality monitoring systems of the service.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.