St Oswald's Retirement Village

Updated 6 July 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an Expert by Experience (ExE). An ExE is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. Their area of expertise was caring for people with dementia.

Service and service type:

St Oswald’s Retirement Village provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is either rented or on a leasehold and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service. Not everyone living at St Oswald’s Retirement Village receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection:

This was an announced inspection and the service was given 24 hours’ notice. This was to ensure people and staff were available for us to speak with. The inspection took place on 14 and 15 May 2019.

What we did:

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection in September 2016. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about. We used information the provider sent us in their Provider Information Return. Providers are required to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

During the inspection we spoke with four people living at the service and four relatives. We spoke with four members of staff, the registered manager and a representative of the provider. We reviewed five people’s care and support records and five staff files. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service such as incident and accident records, meeting minutes, recruitment and training records, policies, audits and complaints.

Updated 6 July 2019

About the service: St Oswald’s Retirement Village is a ‘extra care housing’ service. At the time of the inspection 34 people were receiving the regulated activity of ‘personal care’ from the service. Some people who use the service are independent and require little or no support from the service. The service also funded and operated an emergency call bell system. This meant they responded to emergency situations for any person living at either scheme regardless whether they received personal care support or not.

People’s experience of using this service:

• People told us they felt safe at the service and felt happy to speak up.

• People’s risks had been identified and appropriate safety measures were in place. People were supported by a consistent team of staff who were kind and caring.

• People received their medicines as prescribed and medicines were managed safely.

• Staff knowledge in relation to people’s conditions, their needs, and how to support them was thorough.

• Care plans were person centred and included people’s personal preferences. This meant people received a service which was tailored to their individual needs.

• Staff had good relationships with people and knew them well. People told us they were happy with the staff who supported them.

• There was an open culture where staff and people could raise concerns or issues. People told us they felt safe at the service and felt happy to speak up.

• People, relatives and staff told us the service was well-led. The registered manager was a visible presence and knew people and their relatives well.

• People’s feedback was encouraged and used to shape the service.

The service met the characteristics of Good overall. For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Rating at last inspection: At the last inspection the service was rated Good (This report was published on 6 October 2016).

Why we inspected: We inspected this service as part of our ongoing Adult Social Care inspection programme. This was a planned inspection based on the previous Good rating. Previous CQC ratings and the time since the last inspection were also taken into consideration.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.