The Phoenix Centre

Updated 30 January 2019

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 Phoenix Centre is a ‘care home.’ People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The Phoenix Centre is also a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care and support to individuals within their own homes throughout the community.

The Phoenix Centre provides care and support to people living in a supported living setting, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

The Phoenix Centre provides care and support to individuals within Shared Lives Carers homes throughout the community. CQC does not regulate premises used for Shared Lives; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

This comprehensive inspection visit took place on 08 January 2019 and was announced. The provider was given 24 hours' notice because the location provides a care service to people who lived in the community. We needed to be sure that we could access the office premises.

The inspection team consisted of three adult social care inspectors and two experts-by-experience. The expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The experts by experience supporting this inspection had a background supporting older people and people with a learning disability.

Before our inspection we completed our planning tool and reviewed the information we held on the service. This included notifications we had received from the provider, about incidents that affect the health, safety and welfare of people supported by the service and previous inspection reports. We also checked to see if any information concerning the care and welfare of people supported by the service had been received. We contacted the commissioning department at Blackpool Borough Council and Healthwatch Blackpool. Healthwatch Blackpool is an independent consumer champion for health and social care. This helped us to gain a balanced overview of what people experienced accessing the service.

As part of the inspection we used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Returns. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We did not use the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI) during our visit. SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. This was because people who lived at the Phoenix Centre were able to speak with us and tell us about their experiences and the support they received.

During the inspection visit we spoke with a range of people about the service. They included three people staying at the Phoenix Centre, seven people receiving home care support, two people receiving supported living, two people receiving extra support supported living and five people living with shared lives carers. We also spoke with the head of service, five registered managers, five support workers, four shared lives support officers and seven shared lives carers. We observed care practices and how staff interacted with people in their care. This helped us understand the

Updated 30 January 2019

The Phoenix Centre is run by Blackpool Borough Council. Within the building there is a residential mental health service for people with a primary diagnosis of enduring mental illness who are experiencing a mental health crisis. The service offers short stays from one night to up to two weeks to enable a period of recovery. The location also provides a domiciliary service for people who live in the local community. This includes supporting people with personal care needs and assisting people to be as independent as they can be. In addition, the Phoenix Centre provides a supported living scheme and extra supported living scheme in houses within the community. The aim of the services is to provide rehabilitation for people to move on to accommodation of their choice. A Shared Lives Service is also managed from the Centre. The service provides care and support to individuals within Shared Lives Carers homes throughout the Blackpool community. The services each had a registered manager.

At the last inspection carried out on 24 and 26 May 2016 the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of Good. There was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

There were registered managers in place for each 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.

People supported by all the services told us they were safe, well cared for and liked the staff who supported them. Comments received included, “I am enjoying my stay at the Phoenix Centre and I feel completely safe. The staff have been great with me.” And, “I feel completely safe with the staff who support me. They have never let me down.”

Procedures were in place to record safeguarding concerns, accidents and incidents and take necessary action as required. Staff had received safeguarding training and understood their responsibilities to report unsafe care or abusive practices.

Risk assessments had been developed to minimise the potential risk of harm to people during the delivery of their care. These had been kept under review and were relevant to the care provided.

Staff had been recruited safely, appropriately trained and supported. They had skills, knowledge and experience required to support people with their care and social needs.

Staff responsible for assisting people with their medicines had received training to ensure they had the competency and skills required.

People’s care and support had been planned with them and was person centred. They told us they had been consulted and listened to about how their care would be delivered.

Care plans were organised and had identified care and support people required. We found they were informative about care people had received.

We saw there was an emphasis on promoting dignity, respect and independence for people supported by all services. They told us they were treated as individuals and received person centred care.

The registered managers understood the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). This meant they were working within the law to support people who may lack capacity to make their own decisions.

We looked around the building of the Phoenix Centre and found it had been maintained, was clean and hygienic and a safe place for people to stay. We found equipment had been serviced and maintained as required. The design of the building and facilities provided were appropriate for the care and support provided.

The services had safe infection control procedures in place and staff had received infection control training.

Meal times at the Phoenix Centre, supported living and shared lives houses were relaxed and organised around people’s individual daily routines. People told us they enjoyed the quality and choice of meals provided for them.

People were supported to have access to healthcare professionals and their healthcare needs had been met.

People supported by all services told us staff were caring towards them. Staff we spoke with understood the importance of high standards of care to give people meaningful lives.

The services had information about support from an external advocate should this be required by people they supported.

The services had a complaints procedure which was made available to people and their family when they commenced using the service. The people we spoke with told us they were happy with their service and had no complaints.

The registered mangers used a variety of methods to assess and monitor the quality of the service. These included regular audits and satisfaction surveys to seek their views about the service provided.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.