28 September 2018
During a routine inspection
This was the first inspection of the service which was registered in March 2017.
The service had 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.
The service helped people to stay safe. Staff knew about abuse and how to report it and other incidents or accidents which took place. Risks to people were assessed and updated and there were systems in place to ensure there was enough staff to meet people's needs.
People they currently supported needed minimal help with their medicines, the registered manager had ensured that appropriate systems were in place if the service was to administer medicines on people's behalf.
Staff told us that they received the support and development opportunities they needed to be able to meet people's needs. However we found that staff had not been recently trained in key areas of mandatory training.
People’s needs were assessed and care plans were developed to identify what care and support people required. People said they were involved in their care planning and were happy to express their views or raise concerns. When people’s needs changed, this was quickly identified and prompt appropriate action was taken to ensure people’s well-being was protected.
People experienced positive outcomes because of the service they received and gave us good feedback about their care and support.
People were supported to have choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. People’s views on the service were regularly sought and acted on.
Staff were motivated and proud to work for the service; as a result, staff turnover was kept to a minimum ensuring that continuity of care was in place for most people who used the service.
Staff were respectful of people’s privacy and maintained their dignity.
The service followed safe recruitment practices and carried out appropriate checks before staff started supporting people.
The registered manager demonstrated leadership and a good understanding of the importance of effective quality assurance systems. There were processes in place to monitor quality and understand the experiences of people who used the service. We saw that regular visits and phone calls had been made to people using the service and their relatives to obtain feedback about the staff and the care provided.
The service worked in co-operation with other organisations such as healthcare services to deliver effective care and support.
The service listened and responded to people’s concerns and complaints, and used this to improve the quality of care. The service learnt lessons and made improvements when things went wrong.
We made three recommendations with regard to staff training on medicines management, manual handling and equality and diversity.