26 St Marks Road

Updated 17 January 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.

The inspection took place on 1 November 2017 and was unannounced. The inspection was undertaken by one inspector and an expert-by-experience. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. In this instance the expert by experiences had experience of caring for a relative living with learning disabilities.

We checked the information we held about the service including statutory notifications. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We also contacted the health and social care commissioners who help place and monitor the care of people living in the home.

During our inspection we spoke with four people who lived in the home and five members of staff; this included four care staff and the registered manager. We were also able to speak to two relatives by telephone.

We observed care and support in communal areas including lunch being served. A number of people who used the service were unable to verbally communicate with us; we undertook observations of care and support being given. We also used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We looked at the care records of five people and four staff recruitment records. We also looked at other information related to the running of and the quality of the service. This included quality assurance audits, maintenance schedules, training information for care staff, staff duty rotas, meeting minutes and arrangements for managing complaints.

Updated 17 January 2018

26 St Marks Road 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. St Marks Road is registered to accommodate eight people; at the time of our inspection there were eight people living in the home.

At the last inspection in October 2015 this service was rated good. At this inspection we found the service remained good.

The service had a registered manager. 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.

People received care from staff that knew them and were kind, compassionate and respectful. There was sufficient staff to provide the care and support to people that they required.

People’s needs were assessed prior to coming to the home and detailed person-centred care plans were in place and were kept under review. Risks to people had been identified and measures put in place to mitigate any risk.

There were appropriate recruitment processes in place and people felt safe in the home. Staff understood their responsibilities to keep people safe from any risk or harm and knew how to respond if they had any concerns.

Staff were supported through regular supervisions and undertook training which helped them to understand the needs of the people they were supporting. People and where appropriate their relatives were involved in decisions about the way in which their care and support was provided.

Staff understood the need to undertake specific assessments where people lacked capacity to consent to their care and / or their day to day routines. People’s health care and nutritional needs were carefully considered and relevant health care professionals were appropriately involved in people’s care.

People were cared for by staff who were respectful of their dignity and who demonstrated an understanding of each person’s needs. Relatives spoke positively about the care their relative received and felt that they could approach management and staff to discuss any issues or concerns they had.

There were comprehensive systems in place to monitor the quality and standard of the home. Regular audits were undertaken and any shortfalls addressed.

The registered manager was approachable and people felt confident that any issues or concerns raised would be addressed and appropriate action taken.

The service strived to remain up to date with legislation and best practice and worked with outside agencies to continuously look at ways to improve the experience for people.