Archived: Guinness Care Gloucester

Updated 21 May 2019

The Inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

Our inspection was completed by one inspector.

Service and service type:

Guinness Care Gloucester is a domiciliary care agency (DCA) which only provides care to people living at two Extra Care Housing schemes, Marina Court and St Catherines Court.

This service provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra Care Housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is rented and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service.

The service is required to have a registered manager. A new manager had been appointed in February 2019, they were in the process of registering with the Care Quality Commission. A registered manager and the provider are both legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection:

We gave the service two days’ notice of the inspection site visit because we wanted to ensure that managers responsible for supporting the service would be available. We inspected the two registered locations Guinness Care Gloucester alongside Guinness Care Forest, as they have the same manager and follow the same processes.

What we did:

Before inspection: We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included previous inspection reports and details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse, serious injuries and deaths. We used information the provider sent us in their Provider Information Return as part of our Provider Information Collection. Providers are required to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

During inspection: We visited Guinness Care Gloucester office on 12 April 2019. We visited the two Extra Care Housing schemes on 15 and 16 April 2019. We visited the office again on 24 April 2019 to conclude our inspection. We spoke with seven people about the care and support they received. We observed care staff engage with people at both of the schemes. We spoke with six members of staff, two care co-ordinators, the manager and a representative of the provider.

We reviewed the care records of six people. These included assessments of need, risk assessments and support plans. We reviewed two staff recruitment files. We also reviewed a selection of quality monitoring records and other management records; audits, management reports, action plans and complaints records.

Updated 21 May 2019

About the service:

Guinness Care Gloucester provides personal care support and practical assistance to people who live in self-contained flats as part of two Extra Care Housing Schemes called Marina Court and St Catherines Court.

At the time of the inspection 47 people received personal care support. Some people who use the service are independent and require little or no support from the service. Guinness Care also funded and operated an emergency call bell system in both schemes. This meant they responded to emergency situations for any person living at either scheme regardless of whether they received personal care support or not.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only regulates the regulated activity of personal care; this inspection report only relates to the provision of personal care.

People’s experience of using this service:

• People told us they were comfortable and happy when being supported by care staff employed by Guinness Care.

• People spoke positively about the relationships they had formed with care staff and enjoyed the conversations they had with them.

• People received their care as planned. The service was using agency staff whilst they recruited additional permanent staff to ensure people received their calls as planned. The manager and staff told us the amount of agency staff had reduced and agency staff had been block booked to aid consistency.

• People spoke positively about how staff responded to their life line (emergency call bell system). They told us staff came quickly and treated them with compassion.

• Care staff supported people with their changing healthcare needs and provided people with additional support when required.

• Staff told us they had the training and support they required. Staff spoke positively about recent changes within the organisation, including the recruitment of the new manager. Staff told us the service was constantly improving.

• People were protected from the risk of abuse and harm as staff followed clear processes regarding safeguarding, the management or people’s prescribed medicines and where necessary their financial records.

• The manager had a clear vision for the service and was working with local authority commissioners and the landlords of both schemes to improve the quality of service people received. The manager was also working with healthcare professionals to improve knowledge in relation to the service provided at Extra Care Sheltered Housing schemes.

• Scheme care co-ordinators, the manager and provider had clear systems to monitor and drive improvements throughout the service. A development plan was in place to inform and track these improvements. This included a new care planning and monitoring system.

The service met the characteristics of Good overall. For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection:

This was the first time the service has been inspected under their current registrations.

Why we inspected:

We inspected this service as part of our ongoing Adult Social Care inspection programme.

Follow up:

We will meet with the provider, landlord for both schemes and local authority commissioners to gain a better understanding of the joint working arrangements for people living in local Extra Care Housing Schemes. We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our inspection programme.