Archived: Harleith

Harleith is a care home registered to accommodate a maximum of eight people with learning disabilities. At the time of the inspection eight people were living at the home.

There was a registered manager employed at the home. 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.’

We received very positive feedback from people and their relatives regarding living at Harleith. People told us they, “Really enjoyed” living there and relatives said, “It’s a lovely home, we never have to worry” and the care was, “Excellent”.

People told us they felt safe at the home. Staff knew how to identify, prevent and report abuse and the provider had a system in place to protect people from the risk of harm.

People told us the staff were, “Very nice, always friendly and helpful”. We observed people sought staff out to chat and talk to and staff and people were relaxed with each other and spent time chatting and spending quality time with each other. Staff were knowledgeable about people’s needs and knew how people preferred to be supported.

Staff told us they received training, which they found useful and effective. Some training records were out of date, however the manager confirmed the provider was looking at delivering the training in a different method. Staff received detailed, regular supervision sessions but had not received an annual appraisal during 2015.

People were treated with dignity and respect and their privacy was protected at all times. People’s needs were assessed and areas of risk were assessed and reviewed to ensure peoples’ safety.

People’s medicines were securely stored and managed and people were supported to take their prescribed medicines in a timely way.

People were able to choose their menu’s and were provided with a choice of healthy food and drink. People’s on going health needs were monitored which included appropriate referrals to health professionals when required.

People were supported to take part in a wide range of activities, hobbies and work placements to maintain their independence and promote a healthy lifestyle. People could choose where they spent their time.

Complaint forms were available in the home in an ‘easy read’ format for people to use if they wanted to express a concern. People said they would be happy to raise any issues with any members of staff and felt they would be taken seriously and listened to.

People told us they felt the service was well led, with a clear management structure in place.

The provider was developing a revised quality assurance system to monitor and improve the quality of the service provided.

We observed that staff asked people about how and when they wanted their care and support. This indicated that people were involved in planning their care on a daily basis.

People chose how to occupy themselves in the service. We observed that people were spending time in the communal areas completing their diaries and interacting with each other. During our inspection we observed people spending time in their bedrooms listening to their choice of music and spending time with their family. We also saw people being involved with cooking in the kitchen with staff members.

During the inspection we observed staff spending the majority of their time with people who used the service. They frequently checked on them to ensure they were alright when spending time on their own and spent time talking to them about their hobbies and life history.

People's rights and independence were respected and they were able to comment on the care they received.. Staff spoke to people politely and ensured that they were happy with decisions made. Individuals were able to maintain significant relationships with loved ones.

Care plans lead from an assessment of need and were focussed on areas people required support with. The plans included acceptable risks that people took to maintain their independence. Regular reviews of care provided were carried out and individuals were involved in this process.

People were protected from harm by safeguarding procedures in the home and alerts were made when needed.

Staff had been recruited in a safe manner, with all relevant checks being carried out prior to them starting work.

Records were kept securely and were up to date and accurate.