Archived: MacIntyre Warrington

The service was last inspected on 06 January 2014 and was meeting the required standards as expected by inspection processes at that time.

MacIntyre Care is a national organisation providing care and support services for adults and children with autism, learning and/or physical disabilities. MacIntyre Warrington is situated in the centre of Warrington and supports adults and children.

The types of services offered from this location include people living in their own tenancies in single occupancy or shared housing, “Supported living”. People living with families as part of the “Shared lives” scheme, and an outreach support service available to support people with daily activities, education and work, known as “No Limits”.

The organisation has registered three managers at this location each one has a specific responsibility for one type of service.

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.

Some people who used the service did not have the ability to make decisions about some parts of their care and support. Staff had an understanding of the systems in place to protect people who could not make decisions and followed the legal requirements outlined in the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS).

The risk of abuse was minimised because there were clear policies and procedures in place to provide staff with information on how to protect people in the event of an allegation or suspicion of abuse.

Policies and procedures were in place to support staff with safe administration of medicines and we saw that there were processes to safeguard people when errors occurred.

Suitable recruitment processes and checks were in place to minimise the risk of unsuitable people being employed to work with vulnerable people.

Staff received training and support to enable them fulfil their role.

The service took account of people’s diverse needs and care plans were written in a person centred way.

Staff had good relationships with people who used the service and were attentive to their needs and aspirations.

Systems were in place to audit and monitor the quality of the service provided. Audits were carried out and where shortfalls were identified the management were using the information to improve the service.

Comments received from people using the service and / or their representatives included: 'It's been fine. I've no complaints'; 'The staff are very respectful'; 'My relative is really contented. She does lots of different things and is really happy'; 'I like the staff. They are all very kind'; 'The staff keep me fully up-to-date with my relative's care'; 'We are involved in regular reviews and feel included'; 'The standard of care is kind and respectful' and 'On the whole I think they [MacIntrye Care] are very good.'

People spoken with confirmed that they felt safe using the service and no concerns, complaints or allegations were received during the visit.