23 September 2019
During a routine inspection
Aaron Manor is registered to provide accommodation and support for up to 21 people. There were 16 people living in the service when we visited. People cared for were mainly older people who were living with a range of care needs, including arthritis, diabetes and heart conditions. Some people were also living with dementia. Most people needed support with their personal care, eating, drinking or mobility. Accommodation was provided over two floors.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Although regular quality audits were completed to manage oversight of the service, we found improvements were needed for the documentation that supports best interest decisions and for medicine record keeping. For both these concerns, we considered the risk and impact on people to be mitigated during the inspection process. The registered manager acknowledged these were areas for improvement and immediately took steps to rectify these shortfalls.
People received safe care and support by staff who had been appropriately recruited, trained to recognise signs of abuse or risk and understood what to do to safely support people. People were supported to take positive risks, to ensure they had as much choice and control of their lives as possible. We observed medicines being given safely to people by suitably trained and knowledgeable staff, who had been assessed as competent.
Staff had all received training to meet people’s specific needs. During induction, they got to know people and their needs well. One staff member said, “It’s really lovely here, everyone works as a team to make sure we support people in the safest and best way. We got lots of training to do this.” People’s nutritional and health needs were consistently met with involvement from a variety of health and social care professionals.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
Everyone we spoke to was consistent in their views that staff were kind, caring and supportive. One visitor said, “Very kind and polite staff, the atmosphere is good, I feel welcomed every time I visit.” People were relaxed, comfortable and happy in the company of staff. People’s independence was considered important by all staff and their privacy and dignity was promoted.
Staff were committed to delivering care in a person-centred way based on people's preferences and wishes.
There was a stable staff team who were knowledgeable about the people they supported and had built
trusting and meaningful relationships with them. Activities were tailor-made to people’s preferences and interests. People were encouraged to go out and form relationships with family and members of the community. Staff knew people’s communication needs well and we observed them using a variety of tools, such as method sign language, pictures and objects of reference, to gain their views.
People were involved in their care planning. End of life care planning and documentation guided staff in providing care at this important stage of people’s lives. End of life care was delivered empathetically and with respect and dignity.
People, their relatives and health care professionals had the opportunity to share their views about the service. Complaints made by people or their relatives were taken seriously and thoroughly investigated.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection:
Good. (Report published on 14 January 2017)
Why we inspected:
The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about staffing deployment, risk of falls and medicine management. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.
Whilst the overall rating has remained Good, we have found evidence that the provider needs to make some improvements. Please see the well-led section of this full report.
Follow up:
We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.