Archived: Robert Owen Communities - Radfords

We found that where possible people's consent had been obtained for care and treatment provided to them by the service. We saw that where appropriate best interest decisions had been made.

The records we saw showed that needs and risks had been identified. For example, we saw that risk assessments in relation to keeping people safe around one person, had been completed. These gave care workers information on how to manage the person's behaviour when they were becoming anxious. Care workers were able to tell us about people's needs and how they liked their care to be delivered.

People were not protected against the risks associated with medicines because the provider did not have appropriate arrangements in place to manage medicines.

Careworkers' files showed there were effective recruitment procedures in place. For example, we saw evidence that Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) (criminal records) checks had been performed.

We found that records were accurate and fit for purpose. The manager told us that head office arranged for all archived records to be securely stored for the appropriate length of time.

We met two parents. One told us "the manager really listened...she has got the care plan and activities all as wanted. The care plan was reviewed and refined after six weeks and amended after six months."

We observed that the people who lived at Radfords got on well with the staff and had confidence in them.

We saw that people's personal files were out of date. This could be detrimental to people's care if staff were not aware of any changes to their support needs. The organisational policies and procedures did not appear to have been reviewed. This might indicate that the home had not considered if there were changes to recommended best practice. However we also saw evidence of efforts to make paper work easier to read for the people who use services.

There were two or three staff on duty during the waking day and that two staff slept-in at night. They were supported by an on-call system.

We saw that staff were aware of safeguarding matters and knew how to report any concerns.