Archived: Hillside

Updated 14 June 2017

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

This inspection took place on 11 and 12 May 2017 and was unannounced. One adult social care inspector carried out this inspection.

Prior to the inspection, we reviewed all information available to us, including notifications and information of concern. Notifications are information about specific events the provider is required to tell us by law. The provider had also completed a Pre Inspection Record (PIR). The PIR is a form the service uses to tell us about the things they do well and the improvements they plan to make.

As part of our inspection, we spoke with four people who used the service and looked at other feedback gathered by the service such as through relative questionnaires. We spoke with three care staff and the manager.

We reviewed the care records of three people who used the service and four staff files. We looked at other documents related to the running of the service such as audits and quality monitoring documents.

Updated 14 June 2017

The inspection took place on 11 and 12 May 2017. The inspection was unannounced.

The service provides care and accommodation for up to 16 people with a learning disability. At the time of our inspection there were 12 people living in the home.

There was a manager in post and they were going to begin the process of registering. The manager who was registered for the service with the Care Quality Commission, had left the service but their application to deregister had not been received. 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.

There were some shortfalls found during our inspection. However, the manager had already identified most of the concerns we found and incorporated them in to an action plan. A number of records we found required updating to ensure they reflected people’s current needs and preferences. This included care plans and ‘essential lifestyle plans’ that identified goals that people were working towards. The manager had begun updating records; initially concentrating on health action plans, but other records were also identified as a high priority to address.

There was evidence that staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Staff were able to describe to us important aspects of the Act such as the assuming people had capacity unless it was assessed otherwise. There was also evidence of best interests decision making for those people who had been assessed as lacking capacity. We did find one example of a decision that had been made without a capacity assessment or best interest decision in place. Five people in the home had Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards in place. Some of those people had conditions on their authorisation but it was not clear that these conditions had consistently been met. We also found that notifications about these authorisations had not been made to the Care Quality Commission as required by law.

People in the home were supported by a caring group of staff who understood the needs of the people they supported. Staff supported their communication with sign and gestures and this ensured that people received reassurance when they sought it. During our inspection, we observed many positive interactions between staff and people in the home and people were settled and content in the presence of staff. There were sufficient number of staff on duty and numbers had recently adapted in recognition of the increased needs of people in the home.

People were able to go out in the local community independently if it had been assessed as safe to do so. Those people requiring support outside of the home also had opportunity to go out, for example to local shops. There were activities available in the home for people to access if they wished to, such as a pool table and arts and crafts.

People received safe support with their medicines. These were stored and administered safely.