Archived: Help at Home (Oak Court)

Updated 4 February 2020

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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

One inspector carried out this inspection.

Service and service type

The service provides care 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 service.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). 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 used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three members of care staff, the registered manager and five people who lived at the service. We reviewed a range of records including four care records, medicine administration records, three staff recruitment files and training matrix. We also looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service.

Updated 4 February 2020

About the service

Help at Home (Oak Court) provides personal care to people living in flats within a community setting. There were 33 people receiving personal care at the time of our inspection. 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.

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

All the people and relatives we spoke with praised the service. People felt safe and well cared for. People's preferences were respected, and staff were sensitive and attentive to people's needs. Staff were seen to be kind, caring and friendly and it was clear staff knew people and their relatives well.

There were sufficient numbers of staff employed to ensure people's needs were met.

Recruitment practices were safe and staff received the training they required for their role.

Risks to people's health, safety and well-being were assessed and care plans were in place to ensure risks were mitigated as much as possible.

Staff were aware of their responsibilities to safeguard people and the service had robust procedures in place.

People's care plans contained personalised information detailing how people wanted their care to be delivered.

Staff were keen to ensure people's rights were respected including those related to ethnicity.

People received their medicines safely and as prescribed. Medicine management practices were safe.

People were empowered to have a role in the management and development of the service via an active tenants committee.

Consideration was given to providing a variety of leisure and social activities for people to enjoy.

Quality assurance systems were in place to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service provided.

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.

Appropriate healthcare professionals were included in people's care and support. People were supported to have enough to eat and drink.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 27th October 2018). Since this rating was awarded the registered provider of the service has changed. We have used the previous rating to inform our planning and decisions about the rating at this inspection.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.