Background to this inspection
Updated
14 September 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 was planned to check whether the registered 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 29 July 2015 and was unannounced. It was carried out by one adult social care inspector.
Before undertaking this unannounced inspection we looked at the notifications we had received and reviewed all the intelligence the Care Quality Commission [CQC] held to help inform us about the level of risk for this service. We reviewed all of this information to help us make a judgement.
During our visit we undertook a tour of the building. We used observation to see how people were cared for whilst they were in the communal areas of the service. We watched lunch being served and observed a medicine round. We looked at a variety of records; including three people’s care records, risk assessments and medication administration records, [MARs]. We looked at records relating to the management of the service, policies and procedures, maintenance, quality assurance documentation and the complaints information. We also looked at staff rotas, staff training, supervision and appraisal records and discussed information with the registered manager about the recruitment process.
We spoke with the registered manager and interviewed four staff and the cook. We spoke with five people living at the home, and one visitor. We asked a visiting health care professional for their views. We were told by people that they felt looked after by the staff.
People living at the service that we spoke with in the communal areas could tell us their views about the service. We also used general observation to understand the experiences of people living there. We did not use the Short Observational Framework for Inspection [SOFI] at this inspection. Our general observations confirmed that people were supported well by staff and they provided us with evidence that the staff understood people’s individual needs and preferences well.
Updated
14 September 2015
This inspection was undertaken on 29 July 2015, and was unannounced. This service was last inspected on 23 and 24 October 2014 and was found to be in breach of regulation in regards to safeguarding people from abuse and some issues relating to rotation of medical stock and auditing of the service. At that time we rated the service as requiring improvement under the safe and well led domains because of this. At this inspection we found the issues from the previous inspection had been addressed and the service was compliant with the regulations that we looked at.
This service is registered with the Care Quality Commission [CQC] to provide accommodation for up to 29 people who have a primary need of physical disability. The service is situated in an old detached building set in a rural location near Barnetby le Wold, so transport is essential. Although there are two floors, all the services for people are on the ground floor. The upper floor is used for administration and staff training purposes. All the bedrooms are designed for single occupancy, eight of which have en-suite facilities. There are sufficient bathrooms and communal rooms for people to use.
The service has a registered manager who has been in post since 2006. 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.
People who used the service were looked after by staff who understood they had a duty to protect people from harm and abuse. Staff knew how to report abuse; they said they would raise issues with the registered manager or local authority. A safeguarding threshold tool had been put in place since our last inspection to help advise staff and to assist the management team to recognise and report issues that may fall under the safeguarding threshold.
People living at the service were provided with home cooked food. Their fluids and food intake was monitored to make sure people’s nutritional needs were maintained. People who required prompting or support to eat were assisted by patient and attentive staff. Staff monitored people’s nutritional needs and gained help and advice from relevant health care professionals which helped to maintain people’s wellbeing.
A visiting health care professional we spoke with was positive about the help and support provided to people by the staff. They told us that the staff acted upon their advice to promote people’s health and they had no concerns to raise.
People’s privacy and dignity was respected. People were involved in making decisions, where they could, about their care and treatment. People were supported by staff, family and legal guardians to help do this. People made decisions about what they wanted to do and how they wanted to spend their time, where this was possible. Staff supported people to make decisions for themselves. They reworded questions or information to help people understand. This helped people to live their life the way they wished too.
There was a complaints procedure in place. Complaints received were investigated and issues raised were dealt with in a timely way with the complainant being informed of the outcome.
People and their relatives were asked for their opinions about the service. Regular audits of the service were undertaken which helped to monitor, maintain or improve the quality of service provided to people.