12 April 2016
During a routine inspection
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.
People were not always able to receive the care and support they required because of the way the provider had set up arrangements for reviews to people’s care. The manager and staff were reliant on the support and involvement of a clinical team that were not based at the home. As a result people’s care plans and risk assessments were not updated, reviewed, or created in a timely manner and as people’s needs changed which put people at risk of not receiving the care they required.
Improvements were required to the risk assessment, and care planning procedures to ensure they were in place to meet people’s current needs, and were reviewed on a regular basis. Further improvements were also required to the quality assurance systems in place by the registered manager to ensure they identified and actioned areas of care that required improving.
People felt safe living in the home. Staff understood the need to protect people from harm and abuse and knew what action they should take if they had any concerns. Staffing levels ensured that people received the support they required at the times they needed. There were sufficient staff to meet the needs of the people and recruitment procedures protected people from receiving unsafe care from care staff unsuited to the job.
People received care from staff that were supported to carry out their roles to meet the assessed needs of people living at the home. Staff received training in areas that enabled them to understand and meet the care needs of each person.
People were supported to take their medicines as prescribed. Records showed that medicines were obtained, stored, administered and disposed of safely. People were supported to maintain good health and had access to healthcare services when needed.
People were actively involved in decisions about their care and support needs. There were formal systems in place to assess people’s capacity for decision making under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS).
People received care that was person centred and focussed on empowering people; personal choice, ownership for decisions and people being in control of their life. People were empowered to complete activities and tasks they enjoyed and were in control of how they did this. Staff were passionate about providing good care and people were relaxed around staff.
Procedures were in place to ensure staff could meet people’s needs before they moved into the home. People were encouraged to make their own choices, and staff supported people to achieve their goals. There was a suitable complaints procedure in place.
The culture within the home focussed on people’s individual needs and on supporting people to be as independent as they could. Staff worked well together as a team to ensure a consistent approach consistent with the provider’s values.