Updated 20 August 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:
The inspection was carried out by one inspector. Two Experts by Experience contacted people who used the service and relatives by telephone. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.
Service and service type:
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 bought or 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 had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are 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 48 hours notice of the inspection. Inspection activity started on 18 July 2019 and ended on 23 July 2019. We visited the office location on 19 and 23 July 2019.
What we did:
We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We reviewed information we had received about the service since it was registered with us. We sought feedback from community professionals who work with the service. We took into account a recent local authority contract monitoring report for the service. We contacted staff by email and invited them to provide feedback to us. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection:
We spoke with the registered manager and other staff which included a care supervisor, care co-ordinator, care manager and well-being advisor. We spoke with 16 people who use the service and 6 relatives on the telephone.
We looked at a range of records. These included five people’s care plans, four staff recruitment files, four staff development and training files and a sample of staff and office meeting minutes. Medicines administration records were looked at for four people. We checked a sample of service monitoring reports and accident and incident forms. Other records included a sample of policies and procedures.