Archived: The Hive

The inspection took place on 7 June 2016. It was an announced visit. The Hive provides support to people living in their own homes, who may have a learning difficulty and/or mental health or neurological support requirements. There were two people accessing the service when we inspected.

There was a registered manager in post. 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 using the service were safe. There were systems in place to identify risks and protect people from harm. These included appropriate risk assessments which were in place to provide guidance for staff on managing risk. There were sufficient staff to keep people safe. Where staff prompted or checked people had taken medicines, risk assessments were in place for those people to administer their own medicines safely.

Staff were aware of mental capacity and sought consent before carrying out any care tasks. Staff received supervision and training to support them in developing their roles. Staff supported people to eat a balanced diet in their own homes.

People were looked after by staff who were caring and compassionate towards them. They were supported to maintain and improve their independence. Staff responded promptly to any changing healthcare needs, and people were well supported to access the community. People were actively involved in their care planning.

The service required improvement in well-led, as they had not notified CQC prior to making changes, which was not working within all the conditions of their registration.

The manager visited people regularly and people found them approachable. People were encouraged to provide feedback on the service they received. There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and these were used to develop and improve the service. The provider had developed some bespoke ways of assessing people in accordance with the client group.

This person also said: 'My life is really good now, I still can't believe I've got my own home. I'm starting work soon in a charity shop and I'm really looking forward to that. I told staff that I didn't want to do any more courses because I want to have a job now instead ' and now that's what I'm going to be doing.'

The person told us that they had agreed with what was in their support plan and said that the staff regularly checked it and updated it with them.

They also told us: "I've never been so well. They [staff] have helped me so much, I wouldn't have all this if it wasn't for them.' 'I can tell the staff anything and [name] has known me for a long time now. I tell [name] if I'm worried or upset about anything and they help me to sort any problems out.'

We were told: 'Staff always let me know if they need to change the time or day of their visit for any reason but that doesn't happen very often. I can contact any of the staff if I need them when they're not here.'