Archived: The Melanie Ann Trust Residential Home

Updated 7 February 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 was a comprehensive inspection. We re-inspect services that have been rated as Good within 24 months of the report publication date.

The inspection took place on 08 January 2018 and was announced. We gave notice of the inspection so that people may be less anxious by our presence in their home. The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Before the inspection, we asked the provider to complete 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 also reviewed the information we held about the service including previous inspection reports. We looked at notifications which had been submitted. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to tell us about by law.

We observed the care provided for people. We spoke to one person who used the service and one relative on the telephone to gain their views of the service. We spoke with three staff including the registered manager, one senior care worker and one care worker. We requested feedback about the service from two health and social care professionals.

We looked at records held by the provider and care records held in the service. This included care plans, daily notes; a range of the providers policies including safeguarding, medicines and the complaints policy; the recruitment and training records of the member of staff employed since our last inspection; the staff training programme and health, safety and quality audits.

Updated 7 February 2018

The inspection took place on 08 January 2018. This inspection was announced.

This service is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. There were three people using the service at the time of our inspection. People had a learning disability, autism or visual impairment.

The care service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. Registering the Right Support CQC policy. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

The registered manager was employed at the service. 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 the last Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection on 08 December 2015, the service was rated as Good in all of the domains and had an overall Good rating.

At this inspection we found the registered manager and provider had consistently monitored the quality of their service to maintain a rating of Good.

Melanie Ann Trust Residential Home is a charitable trust and continued offering an inclusive service. The staff followed policies about Equality, Diversity and Human Rights and continued to receive training about this.

The registered manager was consistent in measuring the quality of people’s experiences when they lacked developed communication skills and continued to work at putting people at the heart of the service. They continued to ask relatives, staff and external health and social care professionals for their views about the service.

We observed friendly caring staff who addressed people with respect and care.

The quality outcomes promoted in the providers policies and procedures were monitored by the registered manager. There continued to be multiple audits undertaken based on cause and effect learning analysis, to improve quality. Staff understood their roles in meeting the expected quality levels and staff were empowered to challenge poor practice.

The registered manager consistently understood their responsibility to comply with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA).

The registered manager checked staff’s suitability to deliver personal care during the recruitment process.

The registered manager continued to train staff so that they understood their responsibilities to protect people from harm. Staff understood the risks to people’s individual health and wellbeing and risks were clearly recorded in their care plans. People’s medicines continued to be managed and administered safely.

There continued to be enough staff deployed to meet people’s physical and social needs. Emergency backup systems continued to be operated to allow care to continue at all times. Staff consistently received training that matched people’s needs effectively and staff were supported with supervision and with maintaining their skills.

People had access to many different activities of their choice outside of the service and were supported to pursue and maintain these. Within the service, people were supported to take part in activities they said they wanted to do individually or together.

People were consistently supported to eat and drink according to their assessed needs. Staff supported people to maintain a balanced diet and monitor their nutritional health. Most people chose to have communal meals where they ate together. When people decided they did not want to eat their meal with the rest of the group or at the same time this was respected and supported. People were supported to access health care when they needed it and assisted to maintain their health.

Risks assessments continued to be updated and in place for the environment, and for each individual person who received care. Assessments identified people’s specific needs, and showed how risks could be minimised. Management systems were in use to minimise the risks from the spread of infection, staff received training about controlling infection and carried personal protective equipment like disposable gloves and apron’s.