Radis Community Care (Meadow Green)

Meadow Green is an extra care housing scheme registered to provide personal care, consisting of 53 one or two-bedroom flats. People who live at Meadow Green have their own tenancies. The service also includes Meadow Green Lodge, a separate building of 10 flats which delivers specialist support to people living with Dementia. The extra care scheme has on-site care staff 24 hours a day. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC 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. 34 people were provided with a personal care service.

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

There was a lack of quality assurance systems to monitor service delivery which meant areas which needed to improve had not been identified or actioned. There had been an emphasis on recruiting and managing staff at the service, which had limited the time available to ensure other aspects of quality was monitored. For example, care plan audits had not been completed by the registered manager, so improvements had not been made where required.

Staff were supporting people 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. However, the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act were not met, as mental capacity assessments were not routinely completed for specific decisions such as, consent to medication. All staff we spoke with ensured they acted in people’s best interests but without the necessary assessments in place to support their practice.

People told us they felt safe at the service and staff were responsive to their needs. Some of the documentation around the management of risk needed to improve to ensure all risks were identified and recorded risk reduction measures were in place.

Staff were recruited safely, although references were not always obtained from the last employer. Staff received the induction, and support they needed to fulfil their role.

People’s nutritional and healthcare needs were met. Staffing was organised to make sure people received their calls within an acceptable timeframe. Staff stayed the full length of the call, people weren’t rushed, and staff had time to chat with people, which positively benefited their wellbeing.

People and relatives said staff were kind and caring. People received support from regular and consistent care staff who knew them well. Support plans showed the support people needed on each call although improvements were required in some sections of the care plans.

Staff really understood and were supported to work in a person-centred way. They enjoyed their roles and felt well supported by the management team. They described a positive culture at the service where all staff worked together for the benefit of people using the service. Activities were also offered to people to avoid social isolation and improve mental wellbeing, and people really valued this.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 29 January 2018 and this is the first inspection. There was an inspection on 23 and 30 January 2019. However, the report following that inspection was withdrawn as there was an issue with some of the information that we gathered.

Why we inspected

This is a planned re-inspection because of the issue highlighted above.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to governing arrangements and mental capacity assessments (consent to care) at this inspection. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.