78 Croydon Road

Updated 28 October 2017

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 03 August 2017. The inspection team consisted of one inspector and one specialist mental health nurse advisor.

Before the inspection we looked at the information we held about the service. This information included statutory notifications that the provider had sent to CQC. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. Usually we would ask the provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to provide some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. However, in this instance we did not request a PIR as we brought this inspection forward due to some concerns we had. We also asked the local authority commissioning the service for their views of the service.

During the inspection we spoke with three people, three staff, the head of occupational therapy and the registered manager. We reviewed six people’s care records, risk assessments and medicines administration records. We reviewed four staff files and training records. We also looked at records related to the management of the service such as surveys, accident and incident records and policies and procedures.

Updated 28 October 2017

We carried out an unannounced inspection on 03 August 2017. This was the first inspection of the service. 78 Croydon Road provides support for up to seven people living in the community recovering from mental health, drug or alcohol problems. On the day of our inspection there were seven people using the service.

The service had a registered manager in post at the time of the inspection. 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.

People were safe. Medicines were stored securely and managed safely. There were appropriate safeguarding procedures in place and staff were able to demonstrate a clear understanding of these procedures. There were enough staff deployed to meet people’s needs. The provider undertook appropriate recruitment checks before staff started work.

Staff training was up to date and staff were supported through formal supervisions and appraisals. The registered manager and staff understood the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and acted according to this legislation. People were supported to have enough to eat and drink and had access to health care professionals when needed.

People told us that staff were kind, caring and treated them with respect. People’s privacy and dignity was respected and people were encouraged to be as independent as possible.

Care plans were person-centred and reviewed on a regular basis. People had access to a variety of activities. People had knew how to make a complaint and should they need to it. Resident meetings were held on a regular basis to gather people’s views about the service.

There were systems in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service. Regular staff meetings were held to drive improvements. Staff were complimentary about the manager who they said was open and approachable.