Background to this inspection
Updated
9 April 2019
The inspection: We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, 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 team consisted of one inspector 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.
Service and service type: This service 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 occupants own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.
People using the service lived in self-contained flats within a purpose built and recently extended building.
Not everyone using the service received regulated activity. 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, we also take into account any wider social care provided.
The building contained 95 flats and of those people living there, 32 people were receiving personal care at the time of our inspection.
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 to ensure the registered manager and office staff would be available. The notice period also gave opportunity for the provider to obtain consent from people using the service to a home visit.
What we did: We reviewed the information we had received about the service since the last inspection. The provider had 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. The information provided was used to plan the inspection and was taken into account when we made judgements in this report.
We looked at three people’s care records including medicines administration records (MAR) and daily notes. We reviewed three staff files and checked recruitment, training and supervision records. We looked at records of accidents, incidents, complaints and compliments and reviewed audits, quality assurance reports and surveys.
We spoke with the registered manager, team leader coach, wellbeing nurse, ‘locksmith’ dementia care specialist, one team leader, two care assistants and a member of the activities team. A further seven care staff provided information via a questionnaire. We spoke with eight people who used the service and one relative.
Updated
9 April 2019
About the service: ExtraCare Charitable Trust Yates Court is an extra care housing service. It is registered to provide support to older people living in their own homes. The service consisted of 95 self-contained apartments within one communal building. At the time of our inspection 32 people were receiving support with personal care.
People’s experience of using this service: People were part of a very vibrant community with opportunity to engage in an exceptionally wide range of meaningful activities. Staff had taken time to learn about people and their life history. People were encouraged to use their life experience to lead peer groups in a variety of activities which reflected their interests and skills. This had impacted positively on their own wellbeing and that of the people joining in the group activities. Additional specialist staff delivered personalised care that ensured the best possible outcomes for people’s physical and mental wellbeing. Day to day care was planned and delivered in a way that fully reflected people’s preferences, likes and dislikes. People were involved in all aspects of their care including writing and reviewing their care plans. Clear complaints procedures were in place; all concerns were fully investigated in line with this. The registered manager was very open and transparent in the way complaints were addressed ensuring people were aware of the actions taken.
Staff safeguarded people from abuse. Risks to people were assessed and action taken to address them. The provider ensured suitable staff were employed by undertaking appropriate checks. There were sufficient staff to ensure there were no late or missed calls. People received support to take their medicines safely.
Staff felt they had a good level of support from the management team. Staff had regular training to ensure they had the right skills for their job. People received the support they needed to eat and drink enough to stay healthy. Staff ensured people could access healthcare services and the provider employed a wellbeing nurse to provide people with day to day support on site. 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 were happy with the support they received from staff. People were treated with dignity and respect and were encouraged to maintain their independence as much as possible.
The registered manager and senior staff carried out regular checks to ensure the quality of the service. If any issues were identified, actions were taken to ensure improvements were made and lessons learned. Staff spoke positively about the management and leadership team. Systems were in place to ensure the voices of people, relatives and staff were heard and we saw evidence of this in action.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection: The rating at the last inspection was good. (Report published 13 May 2016.)
Why we inspected: This inspection was a scheduled inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit in line with our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.