Archived: Liverpool Grove

Updated 18 December 2014

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 5 November 2014 and was unannounced. The inspection team included an inspector and the Care Quality Commission’s Head of Surveys and Qualitative Intelligence.

Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We also reviewed the information we held about the service.

Before the inspection we spoke to the contract monitoring officer from the local authority about their opinions of the service.

During the inspection we spoke with one person using the service. We spoke with the manager of the service, two support workers and a volunteer. We looked at three people’s care records and three staff records. We reviewed records relating to the management of the service, management of people’s finances and management of medicines. We undertook general observations and observed interactions between staff and people using the service. We undertook a tour of the service and looked in people’s rooms with their permission.

After the inspection we spoke with the registered manager of the service and requested they send us some information relating to training and internal quality checks, which they did. We also spoke with two social workers, and a visual impairment officer involved in the care provided to one person.  

Updated 18 December 2014

Liverpool Grove provides accommodation and support for up to five adults who have a learning disability. At the time of our inspection three people were using the service.

At our last inspection on 2 December 2013 the service met the regulations we inspected.

The service had 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 legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. They were not available on the day of the inspection but we spoke with them after our inspection. The service had an additional manager in post managing the day to day running of the service who was available on the day of our inspection.

An appropriate environment was not provided to people who used the service. There were ongoing concerns regarding the premises and we saw that work and maintenance was required to provide an environment that met people’s needs. We found a breach of the regulation relating to the safety and suitability of premises. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.  

There were sufficient numbers of staff to support people. Staff had the skills and knowledge to meet people’s needs, and these were regularly reviewed and updated through attendance at training courses, supervision sessions and appraisals.

Staff were knowledgeable about people’s support needs and the information contained in people’s support plans. Staff were aware of people’s communication methods and took the time to support people to express their wishes and make decisions about their care. People were happy and relaxed at the service and told us they appreciated the support provided to them by the staff.

Staff were knowledgeable about safeguarding procedures. Any concerns regarding a person’s safety was escalated to either their manager or the person’s social worker so that appropriate action could be taken to maintain the person’s safety and welfare. Management plans were in place to address any risks identified to the people using the service.

People were supported to access healthcare appointments. Staff followed the guidance and advice provided by healthcare specialists about how to meet people’s physical health needs.

There had been a number of changes in management of the service over the last year. However, the staff and other health and social care professionals involved in people’s care felt the current manager provided stability and leadership at the service. Processes were in place to support staff to express their views and opinions, and they were encouraged to speak up if they felt areas of service delivery could be improved. There were systems in place to check the quality of the service provided and action was taken as required when areas requiring improvement were identified.