Archived: Trafalgar Road

Updated 30 May 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 an Inspector and an Assistant Inspector.

Service and service type: Trafalgar Road is a registered care home without nursing. 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.

What we did:

Before the inspection, we reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included any notifications we had received from the service and feedback we requested from external agencies including the local authority and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We also spoke with commissioners and relevant teams for updates on their monitoring and oversight of this service.

The information shared with CQC indicated potential concerns about the management of ligature risks. This inspection examined those risks and the safety of the premises.

During our inspection we spoke with one person using the service, the registered manager, the service project lead, an agency staff member and a permanent support worker. We spoke with a healthcare professional during our inspection, and another healthcare professional after our inspection. We looked at records related to three people’s support including with medicines, and other records related to the quality and safety of the service. Some information we requested was not available to view during our inspection, including the training matrix and recruitment files. We received this evidence after the inspection.

Updated 30 May 2019

About the service: Trafalgar Road is a respite service offering accommodation and support for up to four people with mental health support needs. Three people were supported at the time of the inspection.

People’s experience of using this service:

Feedback from people, staff and professionals showed they felt the service was safe. People’s risks were responded to. People’s independence and choice was promoted. People were treated with respect and staff showed interest in promoting positive outcomes. People were asked about and involved in their support. Systems were not always effective to assess, monitor and continuously improve the quality and safety of the service.

More information is in the full report.

Rating at last inspection: Good (May 2017)

Why we inspected: This inspection was planned based on the previous inspection rating and was brought forward due to concerns known to CQC about the provider’s other services.

Enforcement / Follow up: We identified a breach of the Health and Social Care Act (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 around good governance. After our inspection, we shared our inspection findings with the commissioning team that arranges referrals to the service to support ongoing improvements.

We did not take enforcement action on this occasion because shortly after our inspection, the provider submitted an application to de-register. We will continue to monitor this provider and service until the de-registration process is complete.

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