Background to this inspection
Updated
15 August 2018
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 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 14 June 2018 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because we needed to be sure staff would be available to meet with us. We visited the office location on this date to review care records and policies and procedures and met with some of the people using the service.
The inspection team consisted of two inspectors and an expert-by-experience. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. Our expert-by-experience’s area of expertise was the care and support of older people, including those living with dementia.
Before the inspection the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We checked the information we held about this service and the service provider. We also contacted the Local Authority. No concerns had been raised.
We reviewed the provider’s statement of purpose and the notifications we had been sent. A statement of purpose is a document which includes a standard required set of information about a service. Notifications are changes, events or incidents that providers must tell us about.
We spoke with eight people using the service and received feedback from one healthcare professional. We also spoke with the multi-location manager, the registered manager, the well-being adviser, the locksmith, the administrator and three care and support staff.
We reviewed the care records of four people who used the service, four staff files and three medication records. We also looked at other records relating to the management of the service, such as quality audits, staff training records, staff rotas and information about the service such as policies, procedures and arrangements for managing complaints.
Updated
15 August 2018
This announced inspection took place on 14 June 2018. At our last inspection, on 19 and 20 April 2016 the service was rated Good.
At this inspection, we found the service remained Good in Safe, Caring, Responsive and Well-led. The service had progressed to Outstanding in Effective giving it an overall rating of Good.
Sunley Court provides care and support to people living in specialist 'extra care' housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is bought or rented, and is the occupant's own home. People's care and housing were provided under separate contractual agreements. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) does not regulate premises used for extra care housing. This inspection looked at people's personal care and support services.
Not everyone living at Sunley Court was receiving personal care. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care', help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do receive personal care we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection there were 24 people receiving personal care.
Sunley Court is situated in a purpose-designed building in Kettering. There were 40 one bedroomed apartments. These were either rented or part of a shared ownership scheme. There was a range of on-site facilities including a restaurant, gardens and social and quiet lounges.
The service had a registered manager. This 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 an all-inclusive approach to assessing, planning and delivering care and support. It demonstrated a holistic approach to assessing people’s needs to ensure their physical, mental health, social and financial needs were identified. The service looked for innovative approaches to care and support, and how it should be delivered. Training was tailored to meet people's individual needs and the provider recognised that the on-going development of staff skills, competence and knowledge was central to ensuring high-quality care and support.
People experienced extremely positive outcomes regarding their health and wellbeing. There were champions within the service who actively supported staff to make sure people experienced good healthcare outcomes leading to an exceptional quality of life. A well-being advisor was available to support people with anything that could affect their health and wellbeing and action was taken quickly to address this. There was a specially trained staff member who was called The Locksmith. They worked with outside agencies to support people living with dementia and offered tailored activities for people living with dementia-related conditions. The whole focus of people's care was individualised and centred around promoting people's independence as well as their physical and mental well-being.
People continued to feel safe at the service and staff knew how to protect them from harm. Managers and staff monitored people’s well-being and took preventative action to keep them safe. There were enough staff on duty to support people and meet their needs. Staff supported some people with their medicines and this was done safely. Staff were trained in infection control and wore PPE (personal protective equipment) to reduce the risk of the spread of infection or illness.
Staff demonstrated their understanding of the Mental Capacity Act, 2005 (MCA) and they gained people's consent before providing personal care. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
People told us that they were supported by kind, caring and compassionate staff. Each person was treated as an individual and as a result, their care was tailored to meet their needs. Staff respected people and supported them to make choices about their care, support and any individual needs they might have including cultural, religious, and those relating to disability. People told us staff treated them with dignity. People’s personal information was kept securely.
People were listened to, their views were acknowledged and acted upon and care and support was delivered in the way that people chose and preferred. Care plans were personalised and written in conjunction with the person themselves and others involved in their care. They included information about people’s life histories which enabled staff to get to know people and take an interest in their lives. There was a complaints procedure in place to enable people to raise complaints about the service. Staff were trained in equality and diversity and information was provided to people in formats that were accessible to them.
The service continued to be well managed. People and staff were encouraged to provide feedback about the service and it was used to drive improvement. Staff felt well-supported and received supervision that gave them an opportunity to share ideas, and exchange information. Effective systems were in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service provided through a range of internal checks and audits. The registered manager was aware of their responsibility to report events that occurred within the service to the CQC and external agencies.