Archived: Earlmont House

Earlmont House is a supported living service. The service can support up to 10 people living with mental health needs. There were seven people living in the service at the time of the inspection.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

At the August 2018 inspection we found audits and checks did not effectively identify issues or record action taken to make changes and drive improvements. At this inspection we found improvements had been made.

People's medicines were managed safely and effectively. Accidents and incidents were investigated.

There was a clear management and staffing structure in place. The provider had quality assurance

systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service.

People were positive about living in the service. They felt they had the right amount of support and advice from the staff team.

People were involved in the development and review of their support plans and risk assessments. They could give their views on what support they needed and where they wanted to gain daily living skills. This included help with healthy eating and attending health and social care appointments.

Professionals were positive about the support people received and confirmed staff worked in partnership with the community mental health team.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection (and update) The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 25 September 2018) and there was one breach of the regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of the regulation.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Earlmont House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This was Earlmont House first inspection under a new care provider, Care Management Group Limited (CMG) who took over supporting people in 2017. CMG have approximately 140 locations across the country, predominantly for people with physical and learning disabilities.

Earlmont House can provide care and support for up to 10 people living with mental health needs in a ‘supported living’ setting, so that they can live in their own home as independently as possible. The service was staffed twenty four hours a day, with a staff member providing waking night support. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support. At the time of our inspection there were seven people using the service.

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.

Although there were various audits and checks in place these had not effectively identified issues with medicine management and the recording of potential risks for people taking medicines.

This was a breach of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. This related to good governance (Regulation 17). You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.

The majority of risks to people’s wellbeing had been assessed and planned for. Where there had been shortfalls in recording some of the risks this was addressed shortly after the inspection.

There had been issues, that fell outside of the remit of the care provider, regarding tenancy agreements and work that needed to be carried out on the building and equipment within the service. This inspection assisted with helping this progress further so that people had suitable tenancy agreements that they felt comfortable to sign and that fire safety was prioritised. Following this inspection, the service received a visit from the fire service who carried out their own assessment of the building and fire safety. This would then inform the care and housing provider what action would need to be taken to meet the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

We received very positive feedback from the people using the service and from a person who had recently moved out of the service. They all spoke highly of the support they had received from the staff team and many noted how the registered manager had made a difference to their lives.

There were procedures designed to safeguard people from the risk of abuse and people confirmed they felt safe using the service. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Staff confirmed the staff team worked well together and that the support and training they received helped them in their roles. The provider ensured that only suitable staff were employed. There were sufficient numbers of staff working at any one time.

People using the service were asked for their feedback on the service and their views were listened to and valued. Some people had become more independent and were looking to move on to live on their own.

People's care records included their needs and preferences. Information had been reviewed on a regular basis to help ensure people's needs were being met. People had access to the health care services they needed and their nutritional needs were being met.

There were effective systems for making continuous improvements and the staff team worked closely with other health and social care professionals.