We carried out a review of the data available to us about Royal Mencap Society - 1-2 St Albans Close on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Royal Mencap Society - 1-2 St Albans Close, you can give feedback on this service.
Not everyone using the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.
The home has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were supported by staff that knew how to keep them safe and knew how to raise any concerns regarding people’s safety with the provider, the relevant safeguarding body and the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
People were supported to stay healthy. Staff encouraged people to live healthier lives, encouraged healthy eating and supported people to attend all medical appointments. Staff were committed to enabling people to socialise and develop and maintain relationships
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence.
People’s care plans included assessments of risks associated with their care. Staff followed the risk assessments to ensure that people received safe care. Staff knew how to respond to and report any concerns about people’s safety and well-being.
People were supported by sufficient numbers of staff that were safely recruited to meet their needs. Staff supported people to take their prescribed medicines safely. Staff followed good practice infection control guidelines to help prevent the spread of infection.
People were supported by staff who had the right skills and knowledge to provide care that met people’s assessed needs. Staff were alert and responsive to changes in people's needs. They liaised with relatives and health professionals in a timely manner which helped to support people's health and well-being.
The registered manager and the provider closely monitored the quality of care and support people experienced and acted on people's feedback to drive continual improvements in the service.
Policies, procedures and other relevant information was made available to people in formats that met their communication needs, such as easy read and picture styles.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was Good (published 09/02/2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
This inspection took place on the 22 December and 4 January 2017 and was unannounced.
The home provides care and support for people with learning and physical disabilities who have limited communication. At the time of our inspection there were 5 people living there.
There was a registered manager in post at the time of our 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 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. There was a manager in post who had applied to the Care Quality Commission to become the registered manager.
People received support and care from staff that were friendly, kind and respected them as individuals. Staff had taken time to understand peoples likes and dislikes, and enabled people to participate in activities either on an individual basis or within groups. This was evident in the way staff spoke to people and the activities they encouraged people to take part in. Relatives spoke positively about the care and support their relative was receiving and felt that they could approach management and staff to discuss any issues or concerns they had.
There were appropriate recruitment processes in place which ensured that people were supported by staff that were suitable to work at the home. Staff understood their responsibilities to safeguard people and knew how to respond if they had any concerns. There was enough staff deployed to support the individual needs of people.
People were involved in decisions about the way in which their care and support was provided. Staff understood the need to undertake specific assessments where people lacked capacity to consent to their care and / or their day to day routines and were aware of their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards
Staff were supported through supervisions and undertook training which focussed on helping them to understand the needs of the people they were supporting. People’s health care and nutritional needs were carefully considered and relevant health care professionals were appropriately involved in people’s care.
The registered manager was approachable and open to feedback; actively enabling staff to look at ways to improve and develop the service. There were a variety of audits in place to ensure people were receiving a good service and action was taken to address any shortfalls.
The home provides care and support for people with learning and physical disabilities who had limited communication. At the time of our inspection there were 4 people living there.
At the time of the inspection there was no registered 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. There was a manager in post who was in the process of applying to become the registered manager.
The risk assessments in place to help mitigate any risks to people were not all as person-centered as they needed to be and needed to be more regularly updated to meet the changing needs of people that used the service. Although people’s needs were assessed prior to coming to the home, more account needed to be taken of the environment to ensure that any specialist equipment needed to support people could be more effectively used.
There were appropriate recruitment processes in place. Staff understood their responsibilities to safeguard people and knew how to respond if they had any concerns. There was enough staff deployed to support the individual needs of people.
Staff were supported through regular supervisions and undertook training which focussed on helping them to understand the needs of the people they were supporting. People were involved in decisions about the way in which their care and support was provided. Staff understood the need to undertake specific assessments where people lacked capacity to consent to their care and / or their day to day routines. People’s health care and nutritional needs were carefully considered and relevant health care professionals were appropriately involved in people’s care.
People received support and care from staff that were friendly, kind and respected them as individuals. Staff had taken time to understand peoples likes, dislikes and enabled people to participate in activities either on an individual basis or within groups. This was evident in the way staff spoke to people and the activities they encouraged and supported individuals with. Relatives spoke positively about the care and support their relative was receiving and felt that they could approach management and staff to discuss any issues or concerns they had.
The manager was approachable and open to feedback; actively enabling staff to look at ways to improve and develop the service. There were a variety of audits in place to ensure people were receiving a good service and action was taken to address any shortfalls.
Below is a summary of what we found. The summary is based on our observations during the inspection, discussions with people using the service, the staff supporting them and looking at records.
If you wish to see the evidence supporting our summary please read the full report.
Is the service safe?
People were treated with respect and dignity by the staff. The provider had recruitment systems in place to make sure all staff had appropriate checks before starting work at the service. The provider had completed a detailed fire safety risk assessment of the home and staff had a good knowledge of the evacuation procedures in the event of a fire. There were sufficient numbers of suitably experienced and trained staff working at the home at all times.
Is the service effective?
People's health and care needs were assessed with them, and they were involved in writing their plans of care. People told us they were happy living at the home and we observed that people were relaxed and looked well cared for. We saw that individualised care plans had been put in place to ensure people's health and wellbeing. We saw that people had been supported by the staff to attend a range of health and medical appointments.
Is the service caring?
People were supported by kind and attentive staff. We observed that staff cared for people in a respectful and sensitive manner. The living area of the home had recently been re-decorated. Staff showed us how they were making the environment more 'homely' by displaying framed photographs of people who used services in the dining area. People told us that they were happy at the home. One person said 'I feel great and I'm good, I've just had some tea and toast'.
Is the service responsive?
We observed that staff were responsive to people at the home and provided care to a range of their individual needs. The provider had undertaken a survey in order to find out whether people were happy with the care provided by the service and had taken appropriate action to make improvements to the service where required.
Is the service well-led?
The service had a quality assurance system, records seen by us showed that identified shortfalls were addressed promptly. Staff had a good understanding of the ethos of the service which was to provide good quality care and that there were quality assurance processes in place. This helped to ensure that people received a good quality service at all times. The registered manager was said to be a caring person who expected high standards of care to be maintained. Staff told us that they had regular supervisions with the registered manager and had received positive feedback about their work performance. The provider had a 'speak out safely' helpline in place so staff could report any concerns about people or the home to the provider.
We spoke with four people living at the home, three members of staff and the new manager. We also reviewed the care records of three people and used our observation skills to find out what it was like to live at the home.
The people we spoke with told us that they were happy living at the home. We also observed that staff spoke with people in a friendly and pleasant manner and understood their care needs. One person told us that they enjoyed having their independence and liked keeping their room clean and tidy.
We found that people received their medication in a safe way and that when people did not have the capacity to make a decision, a best interest decision had been made appropriately. We also found that people were supported by the staff to say if they had any complaints about the service. However, we had some concerns that care planning documents had not been regularly reviewed and that staff had not received a recent supervision with their manager.
One person told us that they had been involved in planning their own care. They explained to us the information recorded in their care plan about daily routines and activities that they liked to do. They also told us that the staff had supported them to live independently and were respectful of their likes and dislikes.