Background to this inspection
Updated
27 March 2020
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the 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.
Inspection team: The inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type: This service provides care and support to people living in a supported living house, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection: We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit, this was to make sure people and staff would be in when we visited.
What we did:
Before the inspection:
We reviewed information available to us about this service. We checked the information that we held about the service and the service provider. This included previous inspection reports and statutory notifications sent to us by the provider about incidents and events that had occurred at the service. A notification is information about important events, which the service is required to send to us by law. On this occasion we did not ask the provider to complete a Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection:
We arranged a visit to the supported living house, so we could meet staff and people, we were able to observe staff and people interacting during our visit. We spoke with two people. We spoke with four members of staff, including the regional manager, a manager from another of the provider’s services, who was present to support the inspection, and two support workers.
We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s support records and two medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.
After the inspection
After the inspection, we spoke to two relatives by telephone. We reviewed records for staff training and we received additional audit records. We received feedback by email from a GP and feedback by telephone from a commissioner, both gave us permission to quote them in this report. We received feedback by email from the provider’s healthcare facilitator who organised health reviews for people, they also gave us permission to quote them in this report.
Updated
27 March 2020
About the service:
100 Goldstone Crescent is a supported living house, supporting three adults at the time of the inspection. All people receiving care had a learning disability and additional needs such as mental health needs, sensory impairment, autistic spectrum disorder and/or long-term conditions such as epilepsy.
The Care Quality Commission inspects the care and support the service provides to adults but does not inspect the accommodation they live in. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care, this is help with tasks related to personal hygiene, medicines and eating.
Accommodation was provided over two floors and communal areas included a lounge, dining room and kitchen. People had their own rooms. People had access to gardens at the rear of the home.
The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support in the following ways; promotion of choice and control, independence and inclusion. 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:
Throughout the inspection, we observed positive, fun interactions between people and staff. A relative said, “They do love [Person], they’re not just there as carers, it’s like having a second home.” Another relative told us, “I think the staff are wonderful, they feel like my extended family, [Person] is happy there.”
People received their medicines safely. A range of quality assurance systems monitored the quality of care and the service overall. The provider’s internal quality assurance team carried out annual audits and the regional manager carried out quarterly audits. The registered manager carried out audits and this monitoring did not always lead to improvements or learning, this was an area of improvement. Where audits had identified issues with medicines storage no sustained action had taken place. No people had been harmed by any of the issues found. We told the provider about what we found, and they took immediate actions. We have written about this in the well-led section of the report.
People had access to a range of healthcare professionals and services. A GP told us, “They are treated as individuals and receive the highest standard of care.”
People were safe and staff knew what action to take if they had any concerns about people’s safety or welfare. People’s risks were identified and assessed appropriately, a commissioner told us, "It's a really good service, the manager and all support workers manage risk well and work with people to develop independence."
There were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs, to enable them to engage with activities, access the community and to live their lives as independently as possible. Support plans were detailed and guided staff about people’s current needs and how to meet them. People received personalised care that was tailored to meet their individual needs, preferences and choices. Staff supported people to make choices and to live as independently as possible. Staff completed training that was driven by the needs of the people and were experienced in their roles to provide effective care to people.
Rating at the last inspection: The last rating for this service was Good (published 28 July 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.