Archived: The Manor

Updated 18 December 2019

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

The Manor is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

Before the inspection we reviewed information we held about the service including statutory notifications. Statutory notifications include information about important events which the provider is required to send us. We received feedback from the local authority about their most recent inspection. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

During the inspection

During our inspection we observed interactions between people and staff to help us understand their experiences of receiving care and support at the service. This was because some people were unable to express their experiences of the service verbally. We spoke with three people using the service, the registered manager, the operations manager and four staff members. We also spoke with two professionals and a community volunteer who were visiting the service. We looked at records which included care records for three people, three staff files, medicines records and other records relating to the management of the service.

After the inspection

We received additional information from the operations manager to give us assurances of actions taken. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We spoke to one friend of a person who used the service for their views.

Updated 18 December 2019

About the service

The Manor is a residential care service that provides accommodation and personal support for up to 14 older people with learning disabilities. Some people were also living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 11 people using the service.

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.

The service was a large home, bigger than most domestic style properties. It was larger than current best practice guidance. However, the size of the service having a negative impact on people was mitigated by the building design fitting into the residential area and the other large domestic homes of a similar size. There were deliberately no identifying signs, intercom, cameras, industrial bins or anything else outside to indicate it was a care home. Staff did not wear anything that suggested they were care staff when coming and going with people.

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

Risk assessments in place were detailed. However, some people’s risk had not been recorded. This meant there was a risk that some staff may not know how to support people safely. Some medicines were not counted or recorded properly, so we could not be sure if people had received the right amount of medicine. Some information about how people liked or needed to take their medicines was missing.

The provider did not always properly assess risks relating to the environment. Work was in progress to improve the environment for people to live in and to make the service was safe for people but there was still a lot of work that needed to be done.

The provider had systems in place to monitor, assess and improve the service. Care records focused on individuals and their needs but we found gaps in some people’s records and this meant some important information may be missing about their care and support.

Staff knew how to keep people safe and used lots of different way to communicate with people to find out how they were feeling and what choices they wanted to make. Care records helped staff know what was important to people and how they wanted to be supported.

There were enough staff to keep people safe, staff received training to keep them up to date with their skills and knowledge and recruitment checks made sure staff were safe to support people.

Staff supported people to follow their interests in the community and at the service. They helped people keep in contact with their family and friends. During our inspection people were very active getting ready with staff to go out or making plans for their day.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support. This meant people who used the service were able to live as full a life as possible and achieve good outcomes that include control, choice and independence.

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 04 July 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well led sections of this full report.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.