Archived: Ryfields Village

Ryfields Village is a domiciliary care agency. It is registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection, the service supported 50 people.

People’s experience of using this service

Throughout the inspection, the management team were open and transparent. It was obvious they were passionate about the service and committed to making any necessary improvements. However, there were elements of service management that required improvement.

Medication management was unsafe and placed people at risk of harm. People did not always receive their medicines as prescribed. Record keeping in some areas such as medication administration required improvement and CQC and the local authority had not always been notified about incidents of a safeguarding nature.

The majority of people’s needs and risks were properly assessed with guidance for staff to follow in the provision of their care. Some information needed updating or greater detail. People’s care plans were person centred. Their wishes and preferences with regards to their care were clearly documented and respected by staff.

People’s feedback on the service was positive. Everyone spoke highly of the staff team including the manager. On the whole people said they received support from the same staff most of the time. This enabled people to get to know and build positive relationships with the staff supporting them. People’s daily records showed that they received the support they needed in accordance with their care plan.

People told us that staff were kind, caring and patient. They told us their privacy and dignity were always respected and their independence promoted as much as possible. From the records we viewed and the feedback we received it was obvious that people’s care was planned and well organised.

Staff were recruited safely and received regular supervision and training. Staff told us they felt supported and that the management team were approachable and open. Staff spoken with knew people well and knew how to protect them from the risk of abuse.

People told us they knew how to make a complaint but no-one had any complaints about the support they received. Everyone was more than happy with the service they received.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 11 August 2016). There was also an inspection on 27 November 2019 however, the report following that inspection was withdrawn as there was an issue with some of the information that we gathered.

Why we inspected

This was a planned re-inspection because of the issue highlighted above.

Follow up

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

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This was the first inspection of Ryfields Village following a change of service provider. The new provider (Warrington Community Living) had only been responsible for the service for seven months having taken it over from a previous provider who had relinquished the contract.

Ryfields Village was developed in partnership with Warrington Borough Council, Arena Housing Association and Extracare Charitable Trust. The Village is a housing scheme that is situated in Orford, Warrington. It was purpose built in 2002 and is fully accessible to people with mobility needs. There are 243 properties in total (226 apartments and 17 bungalows).

The complex is equipped with a range of facilities for people to access such as health suite; hairdressing salon; restaurant; jacuzzi and steam room; licensed bar and coffee bar; craft and hobby room; village hall; shop; IT suite and laundry. A large accessible car park is located at the front of the building.

Warrington Community Living (the provider) is responsible for the provision of the regulated activity ‘personal care’ to approximately 49 people with a broad spectrum of needs.

At the time of the inspection there was a registered manager at Ryfields Village. 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.

During our inspection of Ryfields Village we were supported by the registered manager, newly appointed service manager (who was in the process of registering with the CQC), an acting service manager and an organisational development manager. The Chief Executive Officer also attended during day two of our inspection to answer questions and provide the inspection team with updated information on strategic, operational and human resource issues. All of the senior management team engaged positively in the inspection process and were helpful and supportive.

People told us that staff were generally polite and attentive in the way they undertook their duties. People were keen to emphasise the benefits of receiving individualised support at Ryfields Village. People also highlighted how the service had helped them to feel secure, maintain their wellbeing, preferred lifestyle and identity within a community setting.

During this inspection we found breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take as the back of the full version of the report.

We found gaps in the agency’s quality assurance system. Furthermore, we found that people were not adequately protected from the risks associated with unsafe medicines management.

Satisfactory recruitment and selection procedures were in place which met the requirements of the current regulations and offered protection for people receiving care and support from the provider.

Staff understood the importance of promoting healthcare and good nutritional intake and hydration within the context of person-centred care and respecting people’s rights to choose what they eat and drink.

Systems had been developed to ensure complaints were listened to and acted upon and to safeguard vulnerable people from abuse. Although incidents of abuse had been referred to the local authority’s safeguarding team, the provider had failed to notify CQC via the statutory notification process. We have written to the provider regarding their failure to notify the CQC.