Glebe House is situated in the market town of Caistor in Lincolnshire. The home is registered to provide care and support for up to 24 adults living with mental health and communication difficulties.We inspected the home on 12 April 2016. There were 22 people living in the home when we carried out our inspection.
At the time of our inspection the home had an established registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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.
Staff ensured people’s rights were respected by helping them to make decisions for themselves. The Care Quality Commission is required by law to monitor how registered persons apply the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and to report on what we find. These safeguards protect people when they are not able to make decisions for themselves and it is necessary to deprive them of their liberty in order to keep them safe. In relation to this, the registered manager had taken the necessary steps to ensure that people only received lawful care which respected their rights.
Staff were recruited through the provider using a range of checks to ensure they were suitable to work with vulnerable people. Staff had received training and support to deliver a good quality of care to people. An active training programme was in place to support staff to maintain and further develop their skills.
The registered manager was well known to everyone who used the service and provided staff with strong, values-led leadership. Staff worked together in a friendly and supportive way. They were proud to work at the home and felt supported to by the registered manager and provider.
There were enough staff on duty to give each person the individual support they needed. Staff knew how to respond to any concerns that might arise so that people were kept safe from harm. People had been helped to avoid the risk of accidents and medicines were managed safely.
People were supported by staff to be able to access a range of external social and health and care professionals when they required any additional specialist support.
People were fully involved in planning their care and had been consulted about their individual preferences, interests and hobbies. Staff encouraged people to retain an active presence in their local community and to maintain personal interests and hobbies. Staff supported people to carry out meaningful activities on a flexible and planned basis in order to further develop their interests and hobbies.
People could freely express their views, opinions and any concerns. The provider, registered manager and staff listened to what people had to say and took action to resolve issues or concerns when they were raised with them. Clear systems were also in place for handling and resolving any formal complaints. The provider and registered manager reviewed and reflected on concerns or any untoward incidents and took any additional actions needed to keep developing and improving practices for the future.
People, their families and visiting health and social care professionals were invited to comment on the quality of the services provided. The provider was committed to the continuous improvement of the service and maintained a range of auditing and monitoring systems to ensure the care provided continually reflected people’s needs and preferences.