Archived: Focus Birmingham Beech House

Updated 16 January 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 checked 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 21 October 2014 and was unannounced. The inspection was undertaken by one inspector. Before our inspection we checked if the provider had sent us any notifications since our last visit. These contain details of events and incidents the provider is required to notify us about by law, including unexpected deaths and injuries occurring to people receiving care. Our records showed that we had not received any notifications and at our inspection the deputy manager confirmed that there had not been any incidences which required a notification to be submitted.

The provider had submitted a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used this information to plan what areas we were going to focus on during our inspection. We included a review of how people’s needs were met by the adaptation, design and decoration of the service because people who used the service were visually impaired and /or required support with their mobility. This included looking around communal areas and in people’s bedrooms to see if the environment and equipment provided met people’s specific care needs.

During our inspection we spoke with two people who used the service, the deputy manager and five care staff. We spent time observing how care was delivered by staff during the day in communal areas such as the lounge and dining room.

We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people. After our inspection we also spoke by telephone with the relatives of three people who used the service.

We looked at records including two people’s care plans. We also looked at records around the management and monitoring the quality of the service. These included how the provider responded to issues raised, medication audits, action plans and annual service reviews.

Updated 16 January 2015

This inspection took place on 21 October 2014 and was unannounced which means that we did not tell the provider beforehand that we were coming to inspect the service. At the last inspection in June 2013 the provider was meeting the regulations we looked at.

Focus Birmingham Beech House is an adapted residential house. It provided accommodation with personal care for up to six adults who have learning disabilities and visual impairment. At the time of our inspection six people were using the service, three of whom were away visiting a day centre. There was a registered manager at this location although they were away on the day of the inspection. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People, relatives and staff told us they felt that people who used the service were safe. We saw there were systems and processes in place to protect people from the risk of harm and observed that staff were caring and kept asking people if they needed anything. Staff treated people with dignity and respect and it was evident that staff had developed close relationships with the people who used the service because they supported them to do the things they liked and referred to people with warmth and kindness.

During our visit some members of staff received training so that they were knowledgeable about people’s needs and another member of staff was having an appraisal to review the quality of the support they provided. This ensured that staff provided effective care and support that met people’s individual needs. New staff received the appropriate training to ensure there were enough qualified and experienced staff on duty to meet people’s needs.

People were able to make choices about what they did and what they ate because they were supported by various communication methods to express their views. Staff had access to information which allowed them to understand what people’s specific expressions and gestures meant and how they should respond.

Management systems were well established. The manager monitored and learnt from incidents and concerns such as identifying how to reduce the frequency of a person’s behaviour which could be regarded as challenging. A senior manager from the provider organisation conducted regular quality checks to ensure the service was compliant with current legislation.