School Road

Updated 21 September 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 checked 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 visits took place on 17 and 23 August 2017. The first day of the inspection was unannounced and was conducted 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. For this inspection the expert-by-experience was familiar with mental health services. The second day of the inspection was conducted by a lone inspector.

When planning our inspection, we looked at the information we held about the service. This included the notifications received from the provider about deaths, accidents/incidents and safeguarding alerts which they are required to send us by law. We also looked at the Provider Information Return (PIR) which is a document containing current information about the service and the provider’s assessment about how it is meeting the regulations. It also confirmed the improvements the provider planned to make.

We also contacted local authorities who purchased the support on behalf of people to ask them for information about the service. We were not informed of any concerns with the service.

During our inspection, we spoke with six people who lived at the service, two support workers, and an agency support worker. We also spoke with the registered manager, the deputy manager and operations manager.

We looked at the support plans for two people to see how their support and treatment was planned and delivered. We also looked at their Medication Administration Records (MAR) and the medicine management processes and audits for the service.

We looked at two support worker recruitment files, and the training and supervision records for the permanent staff at the service.

We also looked at records relating to the management and audit of the service and reviewed the provider's policies and procedures. We were informed the policies and procedures were being reviewed and being tailored to better suit the service.

In addition we requested the provider to supply further evidence of the audits and quality assurance undertaken which was provided following the inspection.

Updated 21 September 2017

The inspection visit took place on 17 and 23 August 2017. The first day was an unannounced visit and the second day was a detailed telephone discussion with the registered manager who was unavailable on the first day of the inspection. 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.

At our last inspection of the service in July 2016 we rated the provider as requires improvement overall with specific concerns identified under the domains of Safe and Well Led. At this inspection we found that sufficient improvements had been made to meet the relevant requirements.

The provider New Servol is a registered charity. The provider operates School Road as a service that provides personal support for up to nine adults with primarily mental health needs. The service’s main aim is to assist people to develop or relearn the life skills to enable them to live independently in the community. At our inspection seven people were using the service.

People were protected because updated risk assessments had been completed to reduce the risk of harm for all the people who lived at the service.

Sufficient numbers of support workers were available throughout the week to consistently meet people's identified support needs.

People who lived at the service felt secure and safe with their support workers who were available to support them, when needed. The provider also had systems in place to keep people safe from the risk of abuse.

The provider had effective recruitment processes for support workers and ensured they received the necessary induction and training to meet the support needs of people living at the service.

People were supported and received their medicines as prescribed by their healthcare professionals.

Peoples' consent was obtained before providing support. The provider understood and the legal requirements of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and the need to consider Court of Protection applications where appropriate.

People were supported by support workers to be as independent as possible and were able to make choices and to take responsibility for their own daily activities. People prepared their own food and drink at times to suit them. The provider and support workers ensured people were encouraged to consider healthier food and drink options.

People's health and support needs were assessed and people were supported to access to local health care professionals to ensure their health care needs were met.

People confirmed they were supported by caring and respectful staff who maintained their privacy and dignity.

People’s support needs were clearly recorded in person centred support plans which were regularly reviewed.

People knew how to complain about the service they received and were supported to make complaints.

The provider had improved their management systems to assess and monitor the quality of the service and was taking action to improve consistency across their services.