Updated 31 July 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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided 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 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 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 service.
The service had a manager registered with the CQC. 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
This inspection was unannounced.
Inspection site visit activity started on 23 May 2019 and ended on 3 June 2019. We visited the extra care housing scheme on 23 May to speak with people using the service; and to review care records and policies and procedures. We received telephone calls from relatives and a social care professional between 24 May and 3 June 2019.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed the information we had about the service which included any notifications that had been sent to us. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with five people who used the service and four relatives and friends. We also had discussions with eight members of staff, which included four care staff, two team leaders, the business support worker and the registered manager. We also spoke with two health and social care professionals. We looked at the care records of five people who used the service, quality assurance checks, staff training and supervision records, safeguarding information and accidents and incident information.