Friary Court

Updated 21 September 2021

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

The inspection was carried out by three inspectors.

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 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. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 2 July 2021 and ended on 30 August 2021. We visited the office location on 29 July 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the service was registered. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection-

We spoke with one person who used the service and nine relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with six members of staff including the registered manager and care staff.

We looked at a range of records. This included one person’s care records and two staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including staff meeting minutes, accident and incident records and infection prevention and control procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to follow up on information we received, including having a further conversation with the registered manager.

Updated 21 September 2021

About the service

Friary Court is a domiciliary care service and extra care housing service. Staff provided personal care to 26 people living at the extra care housing scheme, Friary Court which has 40 flats.

Not everyone who lived at Friary Court 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

People and their relatives were generally happy with the service provided by the staff. One relative said, “I’ve found it to be safe and really caring, I’ve not got any complaints about the place.” There were enough staff on duty, with sufficient training and experience, to meet people’s care needs. Staff knew how to report any concerns so that people were kept safe and assessments of potential risks to people ensured staff had guidance to minimise the risks. People were given their medicines safely and staff followed infection prevention and control procedures.

Staff were satisfied their training equipped them to care and support people well and they felt supported by the management team. Staff supported people who needed assistance with their meals and worked with healthcare professionals to promote people’s well-being. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives. Staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests.

Staff treated people with respect and upheld their privacy and dignity. People described staff as kind and caring and relatives were satisfied their family members were in safe hands. Staff knew people well and encouraged people to be as independent as possible.

Care plans included information for staff on how to provide the care people needed, in the way they wanted it. Information was provided in accessible formats if required. Staff supported people to join in small group activities or spent time with people individually to support their well-being. People knew who to contact if they had any concerns.

There was a registered manager in post who divided their time between this and three other extra care housing schemes. They understood their regulatory responsibilities, informing people if things had gone wrong and telling CQC about specific events. Audits were carried out to ensure the service was of high quality and the provider engaged people, their relatives and staff in giving their views about how the service could improve.

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 1 July 2019 and this is the first ratings inspection. The last rating for the service under the previous provider was good, published on 22 July 2017.

Why we inspected

This is the first inspection since the new provider registered with the CQC on 1 July 2019.

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.