Archived: 18 Bellmaine Avenue

Updated 4 October 2017

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 was unannounced and took place on the 11 and 18 September 2017.

The inspection was undertaken by one inspector.

Before the inspection, the provider completed 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 other information that we hold about the service such as safeguarding information and notifications. Notifications are the events happening in the service that the provider is required to tell us about. We used this information to plan what areas we were going to focus on during our inspection.

During our inspection we spoke with the registered manager and three members of the care staff. We also contacted relatives and health care professionals for their feedback and where received this has been added to the report.

Not everyone who used the service was able to communicate verbally with us. Due to this we spent time observing the care people received within the communal areas. We also spoke with staff, reviewed records and looked at other information which helped us to assess how their care needs were being met.

As part of the inspection we reviewed three people’s care records. This included their care plans, daily records and risk assessments. We looked at the files of two staff members and their staff support records. We also looked at the service’s policies, their audits, the staff rotas, complaint and compliment records, medication records and training and supervision records.

Updated 4 October 2017

Belmaine Avenue is one of a number of services owned by Family Mosaic Housing. The service provides accommodation and support for up to three people who have a learning disability. On the day of our inspection they did not have any vacancies.

The service has a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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 inspection the service was rated as Good. At this inspection the service remained Good

People were treated with dignity and respect and staff interacted with people in a kind, caring and sensitive manner. Staff showed a good knowledge of safeguarding procedures and were clear about the actions they would take to protect people.

The service had a small regular and consistent staff team. The provider had appropriate recruitment checks in place, which helped to protect people and ensure staff were suitable to work at the service. There were sufficient numbers of skilled, well trained and qualified staff on duty. Staff told us that they felt well supported in their role and we saw that staff had received regular supervision and training.

We found that detailed assessments had been carried out and that the care plans were very well developed around each individual’s needs and preferences. We saw that there were comprehensive risk assessments in place and plans on how the risks were to be managed and reduced. People were supported with taking every day risks and encouraged to take part in daily activities and outings. We saw that appropriate assessments had been carried out where people living at the service were not able to make decisions for themselves, to help ensure their rights were protected.

People looked happy and relaxed with staff. They were able to raise concerns and there were systems in place to ensure people could be confident they would be listened to and appropriate action taken.

People’s medication was well managed and this helped to ensure that people received their medication safely. They were supported to be able to eat and drink sufficient amounts to meet their needs and were offered choice. We also found that people’s healthcare was good. People had access to a range of healthcare providers such as their GP, dentists, chiropodists and opticians.

The provider had an effective quality assurance systems in place. People had some opportunity to feedback on their experiences. Staff tried to involve people in day to day decisions and the running of the service. The service was well managed.