Belong Macclesfield Care Village

Updated 4 March 2022

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.

As part of CQC’s response to care homes with outbreaks of COVID-19, we are conducting reviews to ensure that the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) practice is safe and that services are compliant with IPC measures. This was a targeted inspection looking at the IPC practices the provider has in place. We also asked the provider about any staffing pressures the service was experiencing and whether this was having an impact on the service.

This inspection took place on 14 February 2022 and was announced. We gave the service two hours' notice of the inspection.

Updated 4 March 2022

The inspection was unannounced and took place on 8 and 10 January 2019.

Belong Macclesfield Care Village is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. The home is referred to throughout the report as ‘the village’, as this is their preferred name. The report also references ‘life plans’ as this is how Belong described care plans.

The village has accommodation for up to 72 people. Accommodation is provided in six separate households over three floors. The households varied between 11 and 13 single occupancy bedrooms and each room has an en-suite bathroom. Central to each household is a kitchen, dining area and lounge. The care village has a bistro, internet café, hairdressing salon, gym and the ‘Venue’ which doubled as a cinema room and events facility. These facilities are available to people living in the community as well as living in the village. At the time of our inspection, 72 people were living in the village.

At our last inspection we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

At this inspection we found the service remained good, but one domain had improved to outstanding.

There were enough sufficiently qualified and trained staff to meet the needs of the people living in the village and they had been recruited safely. There were systems and processes in place which ensured that people who lived in the village were safeguarded from abuse and staff were aware of how to report any concerns. Risks to people were effectively recorded and subject to regular reviews and there were clear instructions for staff to try to minimise risks to people without unnecessary restrictions.

Staff received regular supervision and appraisals to support them in their roles. Staff were encouraged to develop and were supported to do so by the provider. Staff received training and opportunities to give them the skills and knowledge to meet the needs of the people.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff enabled them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. However, we did find some recording issues in relation to this, which were resolved during our inspection. People had access to other health professionals and staff maintained very good relationships with other health professionals.

People and their relatives we spoke with were all extremely positive about the care they received and approach of the staff within the village. We observed that staff knew people very well and respected their dignity. Staff promoted independence as far as possible and everyone spoke very positively about the staff and manager.

Staff were extremely proud to work for Belong and were clearly motivated and compassionate to provide an exceptionally caring service to the people living in each household. They were committed to finding ways of continually improving people’s experience of living in the village and involving the community and relatives in fundraising to gain additional technology for the village.

People’s life plans were person centred and contained details about the person, their history, preferences and how they wanted to be supported. These were regularly reviewed and contained any necessary advice from other professionals. There was a complaints procedure in place and people were clear who to speak to if they wanted to raise any issues.

People, their relatives and staff spoke positively about the management of the village and the approachability and responsiveness of the manager. The village had links with the local community.

The provider’s quality assurance systems were effective at monitoring the safety and quality of the service and action was taken in a timely manner to address any issues found.