Archived: Danbury Gardens

Updated 26 February 2016

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 visit took place on 14 January 2016 and we gave the provider 48 hours notice of our visit. This was so that they could ensure that staff and people were available to speak with us. The inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

Prior to the inspection we reviewed notifications and information we held about the service. We looked at the statutory notifications the service had sent us. A statutory notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law.

During our visit we spoke with the registered manager, the care manager, and five care staff including two team leaders. We spoke with five people who used the service and one relative of a person who used the service. We also spoke with one visiting health professional. We contacted the local authority who funded a number of people who use the service. They told us the service had yet to meet their quality assurance framework as areas of record keeping required improvement but had no significant concerns about the service.

We reviewed four people's care plans and care records to see how their care and support was planned and delivered and three staff recruitment files. We also looked at records of meetings, complaints, medicines administration, policies and records of accidents and incidents. We also reviewed information on how the quality of the service was monitored and managed.

Updated 26 February 2016

The inspection took place on the 14 January 2016 and was announced. We gave the provider 48 hours notice of our visit so that they could arrange for people and staff to be available to talk with us about the service.

Danbury Gardens provides personal care and support to people who live in their own apartments located within the Danbury Gardens premises. At the time of our visit there were 33 people receiving personal care. A registered manager was not currently in post. However a manager had recently been appointed and had submitted an application for registration to the Care Quality Commission which was being processed. 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 were kept safe from the risk of harm. Staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse and who to raise concerns with. People had assessments which identified actions staff needed to take to protect people from risks associated with their specific conditions, although some of these needed to be improved with additional information. People were supported to take their medicines as prescribed.

People were supported by the number of staff identified as necessary in their care plans to keep them safe. There were robust recruitment and induction processes in place to ensure new members of staff were suitable to support people who used the service.

Staff had the skills and knowledge to ensure people were supported in line with their care needs and best practice. There were regular formal and informal supervisions and observations of working practices which supported staff to meet people's care needs effectively.

The care manager and staff we spoke with were knowledgeable of and acted in line with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Staff sought consent from people before providing personal care.

People had positive relationships with the staff that supported them and spoke highly about their care and support. The provider sought out and respected people's views about the care they received. Staff promoted and upheld people's privacy and dignity.

Care plans and risk assessments contained relevant information for staff to help them provide the personalised care people required. People were given opportunities to share their views and opinions about the quality of the service they received. People knew how to complain and information about making a complaint was available for people.

People were confident in how the service was led and the abilities of the management team. The manager and care manager were committed to providing quality care for people. People who used the service felt they were listened to and found staff approachable and responsive. There were processes in place to monitor the quality of the service provided. This was through regular communication with people and staff, checks on records, staff meetings and a programme of checks, observations and audits. The manager was supported by an experienced care manager who managed the day to day activities of the service.