Fanshawe Avenue

Updated 22 January 2019

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.

This inspection took place on the 3 January 2019 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be in to facilitate our inspection. The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we already held about this service. This included details of its registration, previous inspection reports and any notifications of serious incidents the provider had sent us. We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We contacted the local authority with responsibility for commissioning care from the service to seek their views.

During the inspection we spoke with four members of staff. This included the registered manager and three support workers. We looked at two sets of records relating to people including care plans, risk assessments and medicines records. We checked three sets of staff recruitment, training and supervision records. Minutes of meetings were examined and we inspected the quality assurance and monitoring systems used by the service. After the inspection we spoke with two relatives of people who used the service by telephone.

Updated 22 January 2019

This inspection took place on the 3 January 2019 and was announced. This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. It provides a service to older adults, people living with dementia and adults with learning disabilities or on the autistic spectrum. Three people were using the service and receiving personal care at the time of our inspection.

At the previous inspection of this service in January 2018, we found they were in breach of regulations because assessments had not been carried out to determine people’s needs and care plans lacked information about supporting people with personal care. Following the last inspection, we asked the provider to complete an action plan to show what they would do and by when to address the breaches of regulations. During this inspection we found the service had addressed the issues and was no longer in breach of regulations.

The service had a registered manager in place. 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.

Appropriate safeguarding procedures were in place. Risk assessments provided information about how to support people in a safe manner. There were enough staff working at the service to meet people's needs and robust staff recruitment procedures were in place. Staff had a good understanding about infection control issues and used protective clothing to help prevent the spread of infection. Systems were in place to promote the safe management of medicines.

The service carried out an assessment of people’s needs prior to the provision of care. This enabled the service to determine if it was a suitable care provider for each individual. Staff undertook an induction training programme on commencing work at the service and had access to regular on-going training to help them develop relevant skills and knowledge. Where people required support with meal preparation they were able to choose what they ate and drank. The service operated within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. The service supported people to access health care professionals.

People were supported by the same regular care staff so they were able to build good relationships. People were treated in a caring and respectful manner by staff and were supported to maintain their independence. The right to confidentiality was taken seriously by the service and staff understood the importance of this.

Care plans were in place which set out how to meet people’s individual needs and these were subject to review. People were supported to engage in community based activities where that was part of their assessed need. The service had a complaints procedure in place and relatives knew how to make a complaint.

Relatives and staff spoke positively about the registered manager. Systems were in place for monitoring the quality of support provided at the service. Some of these included seeking the views of people who used the service. The registered manager networked with other agencies to help develop their knowledge and to improve the quality of support provided to people.