Updated 8 January 2019
The inspection: 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.
Inspection team: One inspector and an expert by experience carried out this inspection. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. On this occasion, they had experience of residential care.
Service and service type: This service provides care to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is an adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is rented, 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 service. People using the service lived in a number of flats in a single building in multi-occupation shared by people.
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 inspection was unannounced. The inspection site visit activity was carried out on the 11/12/18. We visited the office location to meet the registered manager and office staff; and to inspect care records and policies and procedures.
What we did: We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse. We asked for feedback from professionals who had worked with the service. We assessed the information providers send to us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and what improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection we spoke with 10 people to ask about their experience of the care provided. The inspection was informed by feedback from questionnaires completed by a number of people who had used the service.
We spoke with seven members of staff including the registered manager. We also sought feedback from health professionals and commissioners who had funded people and monitored the service. Where feedback has been provided this has been included within the report.
We reviewed the information from completed CQC surveys from people who used the service, which had been obtained prior to the inspection.
We reviewed a range of records. This included five people's care plans and medication records. We looked at four staff files and records relating to the recruitment, training and supervision of staff. We looked at audits and quality assurance procedures relating to the running of the service.