Parkgate Road

Parkgate Road is a residential care home providing personal care to 5 people at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 5 younger adults with a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right support:

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. Some aspects of risk management required improvement. Action was taken to address this. Staff were recruited in line with the provider’s procedure. People’s medicines were managed safely.

Right care:

Staff did not always work in line with the providers policies and procedures. People received personalised care and their human rights were promoted and protected. People felt safe and staff understood their responsibilities to keep people safe. A relative and advocate had no concerns about people’s safety. There were sufficient staff to provide people’s care and to support.

Right culture:

The providers systems and processes used to monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service were not always effective and service oversight needed to be strengthened. People received care from staff they knew. Staff felt valued and supported by the registered manager who promoted an open culture within the home. The provider encouraged feedback about the service. Recent feedback showed good levels of service satisfaction. The management team and staff worked in partnership with other professionals to achieve good outcomes for people.

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 31 October 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for 175a Parkgate Road on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

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

Follow Up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

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

Parkgate Road provides residential care to people with a learning or physical disability. The home is a detached residential house accommodating up to five people. On the day of our inspection visit five people lived at the home.

We carried out this comprehensive unannounced inspection on 19 September 2018.

A requirement of the service's registration is that they have a registered manager. 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 a legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. A registered manager was in post and had been for three years.

People felt safe and staff were available when people needed them. The provider's recruitment procedures minimised, as far as possible, the risks to people safety.

Procedures were in place to protect people from harm and staff knew how to manage risks associated with people's care and support. Processes were in place to keep people safe in the event of an emergency such as, a fire. Accidents and incidents were monitored and action was taken to prevent them from happening again.

Medicines were handled safely and people received their medicines when they needed them from trained staff.

People received support and treatment from health professionals when needed. The provider was working within the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and care workers supported them in the least restrictive way possible.

The home was clean and tidy and people's needs were met by the design of the building. Staff understand their responsibilities in relation to infection control which protected people from the risks of infection.

People enjoyed the food provided. Staff understood people's dietary requirements and preferences.

New staff were provided with effective support when they started work at the home and people confirmed staff had the skills and knowledge they needed to provide their care and support.

People were treated as individuals and were encouraged to maintain relationships important to them.

People's individual religious and spiritual needs were known and respected.

Peoples dignity and privacy was maintained and staff supported people to be as independent as they wished to be.

Staff were caring and the atmosphere at the home was warm and friendly. People planned and reviewed their care in partnership with the staff. Staff knew people well and people confirmed their care and support was personalised to their preferences.

People chose to take part in a variety of social activities which they enjoyed and people maintained positive links with their local community.

People knew how to make a complaint and felt comfortable doing so. No complaints had been received since our last inspection. People had opportunities to share their views on the service. The registered manager was responsive to people's feedback which meant people were listened to.

Staff enjoyed working at the home and felt supported and valued by their managers. People spoke positively about the leadership at the home and the provider's management team.

Effective systems to monitor and review the quality of the home was in place.

Parkgate Road provides personal care and accommodation for up to five people who have physical and learning disabilities. At the time of our inspection there were five 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 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

We found that the home provided a good level of care to the people who lived there and this was personalised to meet their individual needs. People and their relatives told us that they were happy with the care provided and had no concerns.

The staff at the home received training to meet the needs of people who lived there and training was reviewed regularly to ensure that staff had the knowledge and skills necessary to care for people. Pre-employment checks were completed for all new members of staff to ensure their suitability for the role. When new members of staff started they completed a three month induction to the service which included training to gain the skills needed to support people safely and effectively.

People were protected from abuse by staff who were trained to recognise signs of abuse and who understood how to report any concerns. Staff were also aware of the provider’s whistleblowing policy to report any concerns if they believed people were at risk.

People were offered options of what they would like to eat in line with their dietary requirements and were involved in planning menus .

The home operated in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Staff demonstrated a good understanding of the principles of this act and how to adhere to it within their daily work.

Staff formed positive relationships with the people who lived at the home and used people’s preferred forms of communication to involve them in activities. Relatives and advocates were involved in decisions about the care people received and advocacy services were advertised within the home.

Activities at the home were planned in accordance with people's preferences and people were offered opportunities to choose what they would like to do each day. These options were presented in a way that was suitable for the individual to understand.

Quality audit checks were completed regularly to drive improvement within the service. People who lived at the home, relatives and other professionals were regularly requested to provide feedback about the service and actions were taken in response to suggestions made.