Archived: Broad Meadow

Updated 9 April 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 two inspectors.

Service and service type: This service 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 bought or rented, and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements.

People who live in the Broad Meadow extra care housing scheme are accommodated in a range of one or two bedroomed flats, located on one site. Not everyone using Broad Meadow receives a 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 CQC. 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: We gave the service two days’ notice of the inspection-site visit because we wanted to make arrangements to speak with people who used the domiciliary care service.

What we did: Before the inspection we reviewed information available to us about the service. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse; and we sought feedback from the local authority that worked with the service. The provider sent us a provider information return prior to the inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

At this inspection we spoke with the registered manager and four staff. We held a meeting with five people who used the service who said they would be happy to meet and speak with us. We looked at three people's care records, including their initial assessments, care plans and risk assessments. We looked at medication administration records (MARs) where staff were responsible for administering medicines. We also looked at a selection of documentation about the management and running of the service. This included quality assurance information, audits, recruitment information for two staff, training records, policies and procedures, complaints and staff rotas.

Updated 9 April 2019

About the service: Broad Meadow is an extra care housing scheme for people aged 50 years and over. Broad Meadow provides on-site emergency response and planned domiciliary care to people within their own homes in the scheme. At the time of this inspection 168 people lived in the scheme, but only 45 people used the domiciliary care service.

People’s experience of using this service: People told us they felt safe and well supported by the staff from the service. The provider followed robust recruitment checks, to employ suitable staff, and there were sufficient staff employed to ensure domiciliary care visits were carried out in a timely way. People's medicines were managed safely.

Staff received appropriate training to give them the knowledge and skills they required to carry out their roles. This included training on the administration of medicines and on how to protect people from the risk of harm. Staff received regular supervision to fulfil their roles effectively and had yearly appraisals to monitor their work performance.

People had choice and control of their lives and the staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People had access to a wide range of facilities on-site; these included a restaurant, coffee shop, hairdresser, pub, gym and library. People living with dementia were able to take part in bespoke activity groups and social events. There was a planned programme of activities open to everyone living in the scheme.

Staff knew about people's individual care needs and care plans were person-centred and detailed. People gave us positive feedback about the staff and described them as "Excellent, caring and friendly." We were told the staff treated people who used the service with compassion, dignity and respect.

People told us the service was well managed and organised. The registered manager assessed and monitored the quality of care provided to people. People and staff were asked for their views and their suggestions were used to continuously improve the service.

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

Rating at last inspection: Good (the report was published 21 July 2016).

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection. The service remains good.

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