29 July 2016
During a routine inspection
155 Upperton Road is a residential home which provides care to people with learning difficulties. It is registered to provide care for up to eight people. At the time of our inspection there were seven people living at the home.
There was a registered manager in post. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
People using the service we spoke with said they thought the home was safe, although this view was not shared by one relative and a social worker for one person living in the home. Staffing levels were not always sufficient to ensure people's safety.
Staff had been trained in safeguarding (protecting people from abuse) and understood their responsibilities in this area.
People's risk assessments provided staff with information on how to support people safely.
People using the service told us they thought their medicines were given safely and on time.
Staff were subject to character checks to ensure they were appropriate to work with the people who used the service.
Staff had been trained to ensure they had the skills and knowledge to meet people's needs.
Staff understood their main responsibility under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) to allow, as much as possible, people to have an effective choice about how they lived their lives.
People had plenty to eat and drink and everyone told us they liked the food served.
People's health care needs had been protected by referrals to health care professionals when necessary.
People told us they liked the staff and got on well with them. We saw many examples of staff working with people in a friendly and caring way, although we witnessed one situation where this was not the case and one relative had a previous concern about the attitude of one staff member.
People and their representatives were involved in making decisions about their care, treatment and support.
Care plans were individual to the people using the service and covered their health and social care needs.
Activities were organised to provide stimulation for people and they took part in activities in the community if they chose.
People told us they would tell staff if they had any concerns and were confident these would be followed up.
People, staff and most relatives we spoke with were satisfied with how the home was run by the registered manager. One relative and one social worker had concerns about the provision of care to one person.
Management carried out audits and checks to ensure the home was running properly to meet people's needs, though not all essential issues had been audited.