Archived: Village Farm

Updated 1 November 2017

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.

The inspection team consisted of a single inspector and was announced. The registered provider was given a short period of notice before we undertook our visit. This was because people often went out into the community to take part in activities or to visit their friends or relatives. We therefore needed to be sure that they would be in.

Before we undertook the inspection we looked at the information we held about the home such as reports of previous inspections, notifications (events that happened in the home that the provider is required to tell us about) and information that had been sent to us by other organisations such as the local authority.

During our inspection we spoke with and received general comments and feedback from five people who lived at the home. We also spent time observing how staff provided care for people. This helped us to better understand people’s experiences of the care they received.

We spoke with one of the registered persons, the operational director and three members of the care staff team. As part of our inspection we also met with one relative and spoke with another relative by telephone. We did this in order to obtain direct feedback regarding their view of the quality of services their family members received.

We looked at the care records of three people who lived at the home and records directly related to the management of the service. This information included the registered providers statement of purpose, procedures related to how people were supported with their medicines, information related to the recruitment of staff and rotas which showed how staff were being deployed. We also viewed records related to the support, supervision and training arrangements in place for staff who worked at the home.

Updated 1 November 2017

Village Farm is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to six people whose needs are associated with learning disabilities and autism. At the time of our inspection there were six people living at the home.

Our announced inspection of the service was undertaken on 19 and 20 September 2017.

The last inspection took place on 23 September 2015. The result of the inspection was that the service was rated ‘Good.’

The service was owned by a limited company. At the time of this inspection the home continued to be managed by an established registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC to manage the service. Like registered providers (‘the provider’), 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. In this report when we speak about the company, the registered person and the registered manager we sometimes refer to them as being, ‘The registered persons.’

The registered persons and staff continued to have a clear understanding of how to manage risks to keep people safe and protect them from avoidable harm.

The registered persons continued to have a range of recruitment processes and checks in place which ensured staff were recruited safely. Staff were supported to have an induction to their role and received training which enabled them to carry out their responsibilities in the right way. There were sufficient staff available to make sure people’s care needs were met in a consistent way.

When people were unable to make some decisions for themselves the registered provider had processes in place which ensured, when needed, they acted in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). CQC is required by law to monitor the operation of the Mental Capacity Act, 2005 Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and to report on what we find. DoLS are in place to protect people where they do not have capacity to make decisions and where it is considered necessary to restrict their freedom in some way, usually to protect themselves. Where appropriate the principles of The Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards had been applied.

The registered persons had continued to ensure there were clear arrangements to help support people to take their medicines when this was needed. The competency of staff to safely administer medications had been maintained and was regularly assessed and reviewed.

Staff were caring and positive working relationships between staff and people who used the service and their relatives had been sustained. People’s privacy and dignity was maintained and the registered persons continued to work closely with a range of external health professional to ensure people’s on-going health needs were met. Confidential information was kept private.

People and their relatives understood how to raise any complaints or issues they had and were confident that if they raised any concerns the right actions would be taken to respond to and resolve them.

The registered persons continued to provide an open and inclusive culture within the service. People and their relatives had the opportunity share their views and opinions and were involved in planning and reviewing their care.

People and their families continued to be consulted about how best to develop the service and good team work was promoted by the registered persons. The registered persons maintained and were further developing their range of quality checks and audits to monitor the service in order to keep identifying and making improvements to the overall services they provided.