Archived: Red House Lane

There was a registered manager in place at the time of our inspection. 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.

At this inspection we found improvement was required because whilst steps had been taken to ensure staff were of good character during recruitment, records showed that staff had not consistently provided their full employment history prior to starting work at the service. We also found further improvement was required to ensure medicines were consistently stored within safe temperature ranges to ensure they remained effective for use, although the registered manager took steps to address this concern during our inspection.

Risks to people had been assessed and staff were aware of the action to take to manage areas of identified risk safely. There were sufficient staff deployed to meet people’s needs and people received their medicines as prescribed. People were protected from the risk of abuse because staff were aware of the types and signs of abuse, and the action to take if they suspected abuse had occurred.

Staff were supported in their roles through training, supervision and an annual appraisal of their performance. The service acted in accordance with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) to ensure decisions were made in people’s best interests and their freedoms weren’t unduly restricted. People were supported to maintain a balanced diet and had access to a range of healthcare services when required.

Staff treated people with care and consideration. They involved people in decisions about their support and treated them with dignity and respect. People’s privacy was respected. The provider had a complaints policy and procedure in place which gave guidance on how to raise concerns and what people or relatives could expect in response. People had care plans in place which were person centred and gave guidance to staff on the support they required.

Staff spoke positively about the management of the service and were clear on their roles and responsibilities. The provider sought feedback from people, relatives and relevant healthcare professionals through the use of questionnaires and feedback received was positive. Senior staff undertook a range of checks and audits to identify potential issues at the service and we found action had been taken to make improvements in response to audit findings.

Care planning and reviews took place regularly with involvement from people who used the service. People's ability to consent to their care had been assessed, and care plans were agreed by people who used the service or their representatives. We found that the staff understood people's care needs, how to protect them from risk and harm, and how to provide stimulating activities for them. People were provided with a choice of suitable and nutritious food and drink.

The home was clean and members of staff were aware of their responsibilities regarding infection control. The provider ensured that safe recruitment practices were adhered to in order to keep people safe. Appropriate procedures were in place to deal with minor concerns and complaints, and people had been informed of their rights to complain.

There was clear sensitive communications between the staff and people using the service, with the staff taking time to listen and wait for responses during conversations.

Throughout the inspection we saw staff were regularly interacting with the two people who lived at the home, helping them to go out to day centre activities and to local shops. People were not left alone for long periods and were given time to spend quietly from time to time. We saw that staff treated people with respect and communicated with them regularly. The staff were regularly busy working with people on their activities.

We reviewed information about two people's care and found that their care needs were being planned for. We found that the staff understood people's care needs and how to protect them from risk and harm. We found that staff had adequate training and supervision and were supported by the agency's management to do their job.

You can see our judgements on the front page of this report.