All inspections: Wensley Street - Care Quality Commission

An unannounced inspection visit of Wensley Street took place on 26 and 27 February 2015.

Wensley Street is a care home which provides personal care and accommodation for thirty people with learning disabilities. The home consists of six houses; each house has five single bedrooms. There is a lounge, dining area, shared bathrooms and a kitchen within each house. There were 24 people living at Wensley Street at the time of our inspection.

The service was last inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in December 2013 and was found to be meeting regulations relating to care and welfare of people who use services, safeguarding, safety, availability and suitability of equipment, supporting workers and assessing and monitoring the quality of service provision.

A registered manager was in place and was responsible for the management of Wensley Street and a sister home. 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.

We observed people being supported to take their medicines in two of the three houses visited during our inspection and found that medicines were safely stored, administered and recorded.

People felt safe living at Wensley Street. Our conversations with staff, the deputy manager and the registered manager demonstrated that they were aware of local safeguarding procedures and had the necessary knowledge to ensure that vulnerable adults were safeguarded from abuse. An effective system was in place to record, analyse and identify ways of reducing risk.

We found that there were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs and keep people safe. The staff team was well established, with many members of staff working at the home for ten or more years. Our review of staffing records provided evidence that an effective process was in place to ensure that employees were of good character and held the necessary checks and qualifications to work at Wensley Street. Staff were provided with a range of training to help them carry out their roles. They also received regular supervision and an annual appraisal.

People were appropriately supported to make decisions in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act, 2005 (MCA). Staff demonstrated a good understanding of the MCA and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and how they applied in practice.

People’s nutritional needs were met and people’s physical health needs were monitored. Referrals were made when needed to health professionals. People’s support plans included Health Action Plans and hospital passports. These are good practice documents. Health Action Plans ensure that people with learning disabilities access a range of services to meet their health needs. Hospital Passports ensure that key information about people and their needs is documented should they need to attend hospital.

We identified some gaps and inconsistencies in the support plans of two people. The registered manager had already sought clarification about one of these shortfalls and the provider’s quality assurance officer agreed to address the other shortfalls by prioritising an audit of the persons support plan.

People’s support plans contained person centred information about people’s individual

health and support needs and preferences. Wensley Street supported people to access a range of community resources and provided activities to meet people’s differing needs and preferences.

Observations throughout our inspection demonstrated that people were supported by staff who were caring and knew people’s individual needs and preferences. We saw that staff members offered and involved people in a range of day to day decisions, promoted people’s independence and adapted the way they communicated to meet the needs of the person they were supporting. People were treated with dignity and respect throughout our inspection and staff were aware of people’s differing cultural and religious needs.

People and staff were positive about the registered manager and the way in which she led the service. One person described the registered manager as, “A nice boss,” and told us that the registered manager visited their house and the other houses at Wensley Street in order to ask them if they were happy with the service and the staff that supported them. A system was in place to continually audit the quality of care provided at Wensley Street. We saw that this incorporated a range of weekly and monthly audits relating to differing areas of the service.

We visited and spent time in five of the six houses at Wensley Street. We used a number of methods to help us understand the experiences of people. We spent time talking with three people who lived at Wensley Street. Informal observations were undertaken in each of the three houses. These enabled us to see how staff interacted with people and to see how care was provided. We also gained information by telephoning the relatives of two people, speaking at length with the service manager, two team leaders and with three members of staff. A range of records were reviewed during our inspection.

One person described Wensley Street as a, 'home from home," and said that the staff at Wensley Street were, 'like family to me.' Our observations and our review of people's care plans showed us that the support provided was safe, appropriate and took people's individual needs into account.

People spoken with during our inspection told us that they felt safe living at Wensley Street. Our check of records and our conversations with staff identified that Wensley Street appropriately identified and reported safeguarding issues and followed local procedure in order to safeguard people.

We found that staff at were provided with appropriate supervision and training to enable them to carry out their roles and maintain their skills.

An appropriate system was in place to gather record and evaluate information about the quality and safety of the support provided at Wensley Street.

We spoke to five people who were all very happy with the care they were receiving. People said that they had choices as to what they did. Some people went out shopping whilst others went out to day centres. People said that staff treated them well and that they were all very nice.

We looked at a range of records and four care plans. Each care plan had detailed information on people's likes and dislikes and how they wished to spend their days. There was a lot of information on enabling people to be independent.

Care plans had detailed information on the needs of people. One member of staff said that when people came into the home staff did a preliminary care plan and then took time to do the full care plan.

We looked at medication administration records in one house and noted that all were up to date and that medication had been given correctly.

Five staff records were examined and each contained a completed application form and two references obtained from previous and current employers.

There was a complaints and 'grumbles' book which had information on where people had raised concerns or had raised a complaint. Where concerns had been raised actions had been taken to rectify the issue.Where people did not have family to support them there was information on support being provided by independent advocates particularly where people lacked capacity.

There were 29 people living at the service during the inspection. Most people were out attending day services or other activities. However, we spoke with eight of the people who were at home when we visited.

Overall, people told us they were happy living at Wensley Street and spoke about staff with fondness. They told us they had lots of opportunities to do activities and attend social clubs. None of the people we spoke to had any concerns about their care and support at the service.

These are some of the comments people who lived at Wensley Street made:

One of the older tenants said, 'Yes, I like it here. I have lived here for over ten years, I have a morning routine, I like to have a bath and then my breakfast, I like watching TV and playing dominoes. ' They went on to say, 'I like going on holidays, sitting in the garden in summer and going out and about, especially to have my hair cut.'

Another person told us, 'I've only been here a few months, I came to look round first and I was able to move in quickly.' They said they had a number of day and evening activities, including attending a day centre, and said, 'I go to church on Thursday, I go out shopping and I do art and craft and nail painting.'

A third person told us, 'I do like living here, we have tenants' meetings every two months. In December we went to Eastbourne, for a few days on a `Turkey and tinsel' trip. In the summer I went on an aeroplane to Majorca, which was good.'

Relatives told us they were happy at the level of support people received. They told us they had good relationships with staff and managers and would feel able to bring any concerns to them and felt they would be listened to and acted upon. One relative when asked about the quality of care and support people received told us, '100 per cent - I would give them 10/10.' And, 'No complaints. Can't fault the care.'

These older reports are from our old approaches to inspection, including those from before CQC was created.

Archived: Wensley Street

All Inspections

26 & 27 February 2015.

During a routine inspection

9, 10, 11 December 2013

During a routine inspection

20 February 2013

During a routine inspection

10, 11 January 2012

During a themed inspection looking at Learning Disability Services

Reports under our old system of regulation