Background to this inspection
Updated
28 August 2015
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
This inspection took place on 6 July 2015 and it was unannounced. It was carried out by one inspector.
Before the inspection, we reviewed the information we held about the service including the previous inspection report and an action plan the provider sent to us following this. We also looked at notifications they had sent to us. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law.
During the inspection we spoke with four people who used the service, two care staff, the cook, the deputy manager and the provider.
As some of the people’s complex needs meant that they were unable to tell us their experiences of the service provided, we used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.
We reviewed the care records for four people. We checked how medicines and complaints were being managed. We looked at the recruitment and supervision records for two staff, and training records for all the staff employed by the service. We also reviewed information on how the quality of the service was monitored and managed.
Following the visit to the home, we spoke with the commissioners of the service and the quality monitoring team from the local authority.
Updated
28 August 2015
During our last inspection in December 2014, we had found some breaches of regulations. These related to the safety and cleanliness of the premises, insufficient staff to support people safely, inadequate and ineffective quality monitoring systems. After the inspection, the provider wrote to us to say what they would do to meet the legal requirements. We undertook this inspection to also check that they had taken action to meet the legal requirements.
The service provides accommodation and personal care for up to 17 older people, some of whom may be living with dementia, mental health issues and physical disabilities. At the time of this inspection, there were 12 people being supported by the service.
The service has no registered manager in post as it is not required to do so. The provider manages the service and is now supported by a deputy manager. 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.
The home was now clean and significant improvements had been made to the décor, furnishings, fixtures and fittings.
Staff were trained to safeguard people. There were detailed risk assessments in place that gave guidance to the staff on how risks to people should be minimised.
People’s medicines were managed safely and administered in a timely manner.
People were asked for their consent before care was provided.
Staff supervision, support and training had improved to enable them to provide the care people required.
The quality of the food had improved and people enjoyed it. People were also supported to access other health and social care services when required.
People’s needs had been assessed and there were detailed care plans that took account of their individual needs, preferences, and choices. However, the provider needed to review the impact of one person's needs on others' quality of life.
People were supported to pursue their hobbies and interests, but further improvements were required.
The provider had a formal process for handling complaints and concerns. They encouraged feedback from people or their representatives to improve the quality of the service.
There were improvements in the provider’s quality monitoring processes. However, these needed to be fully embedded, understood and implemented by all the staff. This was necessary so that improvements made were sustained.