Archived: Admiral House

People we spoke with told us they were contented living at Admiral House and found staff responsive and helpful. During our inspection we observed that staff were available to assist and support people with their needs. While we saw some positive interactions between staff and the people who lived at the service, we also found some task orientated practices, rather than a person centred approach to care and support.

We reviewed changes in working practice introduced after concerns noted at our pervious inspection November 2012. These included reformatted care plans and revised risk assessments. Our inspection focussed upon the care and welfare of the people who lived at the service. Appropriate improvement had been made in this area. However, we found that the provider had not told us about an incident involving the police which they were required to do so.

Our inspection of November 2012 identified other concerns about staffing, recruitment, training and the safety of the premises. These issues were not examined as part of this inspection because the provider notified us that they were still working towards compliance. They will be revisited at a future inspection together with processes to tell us about incidents.

People we spoke with told us they liked living at Admiral House, they felt staff were friendly and caring, but some people said sometimes staff seemed too busy and found if they wanted help, staff were not always available. One person said "Who can I ask, there's no staff in the lounge".

While we saw some positive interactions between staff and people, we also saw people were offered limited choices and that their dignity was not always respected. We found concerns about supervision, management of and guidance for staff which impacted on the care and support people received.

We reviewed improvements the provider had made after concerns noted at our inspection in September 2012. These included systems to manage medicines, aspects about the care and welfare of people and the safety and suitability of the premises. The service had made appropriate improvements in most of these areas.

We found that concerns remained about the care and welfare of people and improvement was required. We looked at staffing, recruitment and training because we had received information of concern, improvements were also needed in these areas.

People we spoke with were satisfied with the care and support received, in general they were relaxed, calm and comfortable in their environment.

We spoke to people who lived at the service and found that recently completed work had a positive impact. Risks were reduced and people's comfort and safety had improved. One person told us 'I am happy with my room now I have hot water'. Another person told us 'My room was always too hot, it's much better now because they have mended the radiator'. However, we found that the provider had not carried out all of the remedial work required.

We reviewed the improvements the provider had told us they had made following concerns noted at our last inspection in relation to the environment and the management of medicines. The provider had made some progress towards addressing those areas of concern, however, insufficient action had been taken to ensure people were safe and that the service was compliant and we found that some of the original problems remained.