Archived: Martins Care - the Angels

Martins Care - the Angels is a residential care home providing personal care and accommodation to two people at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to four people.

Martins Care- the Angels accommodates two people in one adapted building. The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.

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

The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.

People received safe care and support by the registered manager who understood how to recognise signs of abuse or risk and understood what to do to safely support people. People were supported to take positive risks, to ensure they had as much choice and control of their lives as possible. We observed medicines being given safely to people.

Care and support was planned with people to ensure positive outcomes and experiences. People were supported to eat healthily and access their local community healthcare services when required. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and the registered manager supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not support this practice, as records were out of date. The home environment was well maintained and adapted to support people to live a fulfilled life.

Everyone we spoke with was consistent in their views that the registered manager was kind, caring and supportive. People were relaxed, comfortable and happy in the company of the registered manager and engaged in a positive way. People were involved in making decisions about their care and support needs. People's privacy and dignity was respected, and their independence promoted.

The registered manager was committed to delivering care in a person-centred way based on people's preferences and wishes. The registered manager was knowledgeable about the people they supported and had built trusting and meaningful relationships with them. People were supported to maintain relationships with those that were important to them. Activities were tailor-made to people's preferences and interests. People were encouraged to go out and form relationships with members of the community. People knew how to make a complaint if they were unhappy.

The registered manager continually checked that people and their relatives were satisfied and confident in the standard of care provided within the service. Whilst the registered manager continuously monitored, assessed and improved the service provided, there were no formal systems and records in place. The service was in transition to a shared lives provision. A shared lives scheme provides people with long-term placements within shared lives carers own homes.

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 January 2017). We rated Safe, Effective, Caring and Responsive as good and the key question Well-led requiring improvement.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Martins Care- the Angels on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.

The home was registered to provide residential care and accommodation for up to four people who may have a learning disability or mental health support needs. At the time of our inspection three people were living at the home.

The registered manager was present during our inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the service is run.

People who used the service told us they felt safe and we saw people looked comfortable in the presence of staff. Staff we spoke with knew how to protect people from avoidable harm and abuse. Systems in place to ensure agency staff were suitable to work with adults was not robust to minimise the risk of unsuitable staff working at the home. There was enough staff to support people in a timely manner. There were systems in place to ensure the storage, disposal and administration of medicines was effective.

People were supported by staff who knew them well. Staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and people received care in line with their best interests. Staff supported people with their nutrition and dietary needs to promote their health and well-being. People had regular access to health professionals to ensure their health needs were met.

People were supported by staff who were kind and compassionate. People were involved and supported to make their own decisions about their care and support. Advocacy services were available to people, if required. Staff respected people’s dignity and privacy and supported people to maintain their independence.

People and their relatives had been involved in the development of their care plans and were supported to express how they wanted their care delivered. People had the opportunity to participate in activities that they enjoyed. Systems were in place for people and their relatives to raise concerns or complaints.

People, relatives and staff were happy with how the service was managed. People and their relatives had the opportunity to express their opinions on the service that was provided although feedback was not always recorded. Staff told us they felt well-supported by the registered manager. There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the care and support provided to people; however some systems had not identified the shortfalls we found during our inspection. Feedback received had not been analysed to identify trends and to prevent re-occurrence of negative experiences for people.

There were two people living in the home at the time of our inspection. One person started using the service two months before the inspection. Below is a summary of what we found. The summary is based on speaking with two people who lived in the home and a relative. We also spoke with the manager of the service, a member of staff and one health professional.

If you want to see the evidence supporting our summary please read the full report.

Is the service safe?

People, a relative and a health professional confirmed that they believed that the service was safe. Their comments included: "Do I feel safe? Yes I do," "I saw another place where people were acting silly, I feel safe here, I like it that my friend is here too," "I think that my relative has settled in wonderfully. They would tell me if they didn't feel safe" and "I have no concerns about the care of the person I see at the home."

People had an initial assessment and visited the home before they decided to live there. This meant that the manager could determine if they could safely meet people's needs before they arrived.

There were appropriate arrangements in place to ensure that medication was administered safely.

New staff were recruited appropriately and checks on applicants' previous employment and their safety to work with vulnerable people were undertaken.

CQC monitors the operation of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. There had been no applications to deprive any people of their liberty at the time of our inspection. However, the manager had yet to be aware of the changes to the interpretation of the law in this area and had not assessed if some restrictions amounted to a deprivation of liberty or whether people had the capacity to understand these restrictions.

We have asked the provider to tell us what they are going to do to meet the requirements of the law in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.

Is the service effective?

People's healthcare had been reviewed and, where necessary, appointments were changed to meet the needs of people living in the home. People had access to health professionals as needed. The manager discussed with people their healthcare needs and this had resulted in a person understanding how to keep well.

People, a relative and a health care professional told us that people received the support they needed. Their comments included: "I am confident that the manager is doing everything right" and "The manager had followed up the health care issues for (relative's name). I think she is competent."

Is the service responsive?

People told us that they were able to keep in touch with their friends and maintain interests and activities they had before they lived in this home. The manager told us about people's individual routines and we saw that people were able to maintain these.

A relative told us that they had been able to contact the manager on a weekly basis and the manager contacted them so they could support the care provided. A health professional told us that the manager had responded well to the demands of a person's healthcare needs.

Is the service well-led?

The service was led by a manager who had the qualifications, skills and experience to provide a good, well led service.

Although people had not lived in the home long there were systems in place to monitor people's views of the service and a complaints policy. There had been no concerns or complaints recorded.