Archived: Housing & Care 21 - Wolverhampton

Updated 15 October 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check 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 16 and 17 August 2016 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the organisation provides homecare services and we needed to be sure someone would be in. One inspector and an expert by experience carried out this inspection. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

We reviewed the information we held about the service and looked at the notifications they had sent to us. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We also requested information about the service from the local authority. The local authority has responsibility for funding people who used the service and monitoring its quality.

We spoke with 13 people who used the service by telephone to gain their views about the care and support they received. Not all people who used the service were able to talk to us directly so we spoke with nine relatives by telephone. We spoke with the manager, two members of senior care staff and five care staff. We also spoke with the recruitment manager.

We looked at four records about people’s care and medicines, three staff recruitment files and staff training records. We also looked at records about people’s safety. We looked at the checks the manager made to satisfy themselves the service was meeting people’s needs. These included questionnaires people had completed about the quality of the service. We checked records showing the actions the manager had taken when people or their relatives had raised concerns or complaints. We saw minutes of meetings with staff and how information on people’s changing needs were communicated to other staff.

Updated 15 October 2016

Housing & Care 21 – Wolverhampton is registered to provide personal care for people who live in their homes. At the time of our inspection 121 people were receiving personal care.

The inspection took place on 16 and 17 August 2016 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection because we needed to be sure that they would be in.

A registered manager was not 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 was run. The provider had made arrangements for a manager to support people and staff and drive through improvements to the quality of the care people received. The manager had been in post since December 2015.

People were supported by staff who knew what actions to take if they had any concerns for people’s safety. Plans had been developed with people which considered people’s risks and gave clear guidance in order to promote people’s safety. Risks to people’s health were assessed and people were supported to receive healthcare support when this was needed. Where people wanted assistance to take their medicines this was given by staff who knew how to do this safely.

Staff had the knowledge and skills they needed to care for people and were supported to obtain further training to meet people’s needs. People were encouraged to have enough to drink and eat by staff who knew their preferences and dietary needs.

People had built good relationships with staff and were supported by staff who were kind and interested in their lives. People told us staff treated them with respect and dignity and encouraged them to decide how they would like their care to be planned and given. People and their relatives could rely on staff to provide the care they needed. Staff cared for people in ways which helped them to maintain their independence.

Care plans and risk assessments were updated as people's needs changed, so they would continue to receive the care they needed in the best way for them. Where people were not able to make all of their own decisions the views of their relatives and other professionals were listened to.

People and their relatives knew how to raise any concerns or complaints about the service. Systems for managing complaints were in place, so any lessons would be learnt.

People and their relatives were encouraged to provide their views on the quality of the service. The manager and senior staff checked the quality of the care people received. Changes had been introduced to develop people’s care and the service further. Staff told us they felt support by the registered manager and senior staff.

Staff understood how the senior team and manager expected people’s care to be given, so people would receive the care they needed in the ways they preferred.