Archived: Viewmount

Updated 8 March 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 was planned to check 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 a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 20 January 2017 and was unannounced. The inspection was conducted by one inspector.

As part of the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service, such as statutory notifications we had received from the provider. Statutory notifications are about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We also reviewed the Provider Information Record (PIR). The PIR is a form where we ask the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and what improvements they plan to make. We asked the local authority and Health Watch if they had information to share about the service provided. We used this information to plan the inspection.

During the inspection we met with five people who lived at the home. We spoke with four relatives and one Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (IMCA) by telephone. We spoke with five staff which included the registered manager, the service manager and three support staff. We viewed two records which related to the assessment of needs and risk. We also viewed other records which related to the management of the service such as medicine records, incident reports and two recruitment records.

We were unable to communicate verbally with everyone who used the service. We used staff and observation to gain an understanding of people’s experience of the care and support they received.

Updated 8 March 2017

The inspection was carried out on 20 January 2017 and was unannounced.

Viewmount is registered to provide accommodation with personal care needs to a maximum of five people who have a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder. There were five people living at the home on the day of the inspection.

There was a registered manager in post who was present during the 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.

Relatives were confident that their family members were safe and well looked after. Staff had received training and knew how to recognise and report the signs of abuse. Staff were aware of the risks associated with people’s needs and how to minimise these without restricting their choice.

People were supported by sufficient staff who had undergone safe recruitment checks to ensure they were suitable to work at the home. Staff felt well supported by management and could approach them at any time for guidance. Staff had good training opportunities that enabled them to meet the individual needs of people living at the home.

People were encouraged to follow healthy diets and received the assistance they needed to eat and drink enough. Staff monitored people’s health and responded quickly to any changes. Staff worked with other professionals to ensure people received the care and support they needed. People were supported to take their medicines safely and accurate records were maintained. Staff received regular competency assessments to ensure the on-going safe management of medicines.

People were treated with dignity, respect and compassion. Staff knew people and their preferences well. Staff provided people with information in a way they could understand to allow them to make their own decisions where able. Where people were unable to make certain decisions for themselves we saw that these were made in their best interest by staff who knew them well.

People were supported to follow their interests and were provided with opportunities to broaden their experiences. People were supported to keep in touch with friends and relatives that were important to them. People’s relatives were able to visit when they wished and were always welcomed by staff.

There was an open and transparent culture at the home where staff and management worked together to deliver the values of the service. The provider had a range of checks in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service. The provider used feedback gathered to make improvements.