Background to this inspection
Updated
23 January 2020
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 team consisted of one inspector and an assistant inspector on the first day of the inspection and one inspector on the second day of the inspection.
Service and service type
Maidment Court provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built 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. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means 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 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit. We needed to be sure people were informed we would be visiting, and we needed a manager to be available to facilitate this inspection.
Inspection activity started on 9 December 2019 and ended on 17 December 2019. We visited the extra care site on 9 and 10 December 2019.
What we did before the inspection
The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this 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.
We reviewed other information we held about the service; this included incidents they had notified us about. We also contacted the local authority safeguarding and commissioning teams to obtain their views about the service. We used all of this information to help us plan the inspection.
During the inspection
During the inspection we spoke with eight people who received care and support from the service. We also spoke with the registered manager and eight staff.
We reviewed a range of records including three care plans and medicines records, three staff files, staff rotas and training records and other information about the management of the service. This included quality assurance records and audits, complaints and accidents and incidents.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. This included seeking further staff opinions and contacting health professionals and commissioners to ask for their views of the service.
Updated
23 January 2020
About the service
Maidment Court is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of this inspection 28 people were receiving care and support from the service.
Maidment Court provides extra care housing in 87 purpose built one and two bedroom apartments and studio apartments. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided. There were 99 people living at Maidment Court at the time of the inspection. Staff provide personal care to some people and emergency support to everyone living in the building.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found.
People and relatives told us the service provided staff who were caring and supportive. People received care that was responsive to their individual needs. Staff had a good understanding of how people preferred to have their care and support provided.
People had access to healthcare services and were involved in decisions about their care. Partnerships with other agencies and health professionals enabled effective outcomes for people. Staff supported people to take medicines safely. We have made a recommendation about medicines training and supporting staff to administer medicines.
Risks to people were assessed and regularly reviewed. Staff understood the actions needed to minimise the risk of avoidable harm including the prevention of avoidable infection. Staff had completed safeguarding training and understood their role in identifying and reporting any concerns of potential abuse or poor practice.
People felt listened to and consulted when planning and agreeing what care and support they needed. People and relatives told us they could confidently raise any concerns, and these were addressed appropriately.
There were sufficient numbers of trained, experienced staff to meet people’s needs. Staff received induction and on-going training and support that enabled them to carry out their roles positively and effectively.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People and, where appropriate, their relatives were involved in decisions about their care.
Systems were in place to ensure there was oversight of the service was robust. Issues were identified, and actions taken to address any shortfalls.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was good (published 8 June 2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
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.