Creative Support - Hampton Crescent

At our last inspection we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

People told us they felt safe and well supported by the support workers from the service. The provider followed robust recruitment checks, to employ suitable support workers, and there continued to be sufficient support workers employed to ensure domiciliary care visits were carried out in a timely way. People’s medicines were managed safely.

Support workers continued to receive appropriate training to give them the knowledge and skills they required to carry out their roles. This included training on the administration of medicines and on how to protect people from the risk of harm. Support workers received regular supervision to fulfil their roles effectively and had yearly appraisals to monitor their work performance.

People were supported to have choice and control of their lives and the support workers supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Where support workers prepared and cooked meals for people, people told us they enjoyed their meals.

Support workers knew about people’s individual care needs and care plans were person-centred and detailed. People gave us positive feedback about the support workers and described them as “Excellent, caring and knowledgeable.” We were told the support workers treated people who used the service with compassion, dignity and respect.

People told us that the service was well managed and organised. The registered manager and deputy manager assessed and monitored the quality of care provided to people. People and support workers were asked for their views and their suggestions were used to continuously improve the service.

Further information is in the detailed findings below

Creative Support is extra-care housing and provides personal care services to people in their own flats. At the time of our inspection 29 people were receiving a personal care service.

This was the first inspection under the new provider ‘Creative Support’.

The service had a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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.

Staff and people told us they were able to speak to the registered manager if they had any concerns. The service supported staff with supervisions and annual appraisals.

The service was meeting the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act (2005). We asked staff on the day of the inspection there understanding of the Mental Capacity Act (2005), all the staff we spoke with said that they would always assume capacity first.

Medicines were administered to people by trained staff and people received their prescribed medication when they needed it.

The people we spoke with all said they felt safe in their flat whilst care and support was provided.

People had care plans in place which were individual to their own needs. These included risk assessments around support and also regular involvement from health professionals.

Records we looked at and through our discussions with staff we found staff received regular training and were knowledgeable about their roles and responsibilities. People were cared for by sufficient numbers of suitably trained staff. They had the skills, knowledge and experience required to support people with their care and support needs. Staff could describe the procedures in place to safeguard people from abuse and unnecessary harm. Recruitment practices were robust and thorough.

The people we spoke with told us they did not need support with meal times. Staff told us they supported people to healthcare appointments or asked the matron to attend the service if needed. Staff provided personal care as required to meet people’s needs.

There were effective and robust systems in place to monitor the quality of the service.

Creative Support had a complaints procedure in place. People who used the service and staff knew how to complain. Complaints and compliments were dealt with in accordance with the policy.

There was an accident and incident file in place. The accidents had been recorded and actioned by the registered manager.