Archived: Houghton Regis Community Care Scheme

Houghton Regis Community Care Scheme is a residential care service that provides accommodation for up to 16 people with learning and physical disabilities. People who lived at this service were cared for in four flats all situated in the same complex each able to house four people. At the time of our inspection there were 11 people living at this service.

The home has a 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.

People were safe as the provider had effective systems in place to protect them from avoidable harm. However, improvements within the environment were needed to make the service safer and suitable for the people who lived there. People’s medicines were administered safely and they were supported to access other healthcare professionals to maintain their health and well-being.

People were involved in choosing the food they had and were offered choices of nutritious food and drinks throughout the day. The people who needed help to eat their food were supported in doing so by staff. They were encouraged to maintain their independence and supported to maintain their interests and hobbies.

It was unclear if people were aware of the provider’s complaints system due to the nature of their learning disabilities. However the provider had information in an easy read format available in all the four flats. People were encouraged to contribute to the development of the service.

Staff were trained and they understood the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA), and the associated Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. They were caring and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood the provider’s visions and values.

People and their relatives were asked for feedback about the service to enable improvements and there was an effective quality monitoring system in place.

The majority of the people we spoke with used a limited amount of words to communicate. Staff helped us to understand what people said through other means of communication such as facial expressions and hand signing. People said that they were happy living at Houghton Regis Community Care Scheme and staff cared for them well. We observed positive interactions between people and staff. People looked comfortable in staff's company and staff were caring.

We found that appropriate standards of cleanliness and hygiene were maintained. However, the duty of care in the management of waste was not consistently followed. Although the home ensured that appropriate checks were undertaken before staff began work; we found in one person's recruitment file that gaps in their employment history had not been explored.