14 February 2017
During a routine inspection
There was a registered manager in post at the time of our 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.
Care and support was not always delivered as described in people’s care plan; people did not always know which staff were coming to care for them and some staff were not always spending the time with people that had been agreed.
The provider had recognised that changes needed to be made and had taken steps to improve the monitoring of the quality and safety of the service. The systems in place were yet to be fully embedded.
People were cared for by staff caring and kind. Care plans were person-centred and detailed people’s preferences, likes and dislikes and past history. Risk assessments were in place which helped staff to deliver safe care to people and mitigate any identified risk.
Staff understood the need to protect people from harm and poor practice and knew what action they should take if they had any concerns. People told us that they felt safe. Staffing levels ensured that people received the support they required at the times they needed. We observed that there was sufficient staff to meet the needs of the people they were supporting. The recruitment practice protected people from being cared for by staff that were unsuitable to work in their home.
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 were supported to have 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.
People had good relationships with staff that provided their care regularly. Complaints were appropriately investigated and action was taken to make improvements to the service when this was found to be necessary. The management was approachable and both the people and the staff were confident that issues would be addressed and that any concerns they had would be listened to.