Richmond Village Northampton DCA

Updated 24 August 2019

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was undertaken by two inspectors on 23 July 2019.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own apartments within a retirement village. Not everyone using the service received the regulated activity 'personal care'. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission, however the registered manager had been absent from the service since April 2019. An acting manager had been appointed in the interim. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection-

We spoke with two people who used the service and three relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with six members of staff including the clinical governance manager, the manager of the residential services who is supporting the acting manager, the acting manager and three care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 24 August 2019

About the service

Richmond Village Northampton DCA is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own apartments within Richmond Retirement Village in Northampton. At the time of inspection there were 24 people receiving personal care.

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

The registered manager had been absent from the service since April 2019. An acting manager had been appointed who understood the provider’s culture. The acting manager was respected by staff and had continued to improve the service.

Staff understood their roles and responsibilities to safeguard people from the risk of harm. People were supported to access relevant health and social care professionals.

People received their care at the agreed times. People’s medicines were managed in a safe way. People’s risks were assessed at regular intervals or as their needs changed. Care plans informed staff how to provide care that mitigated these known risks.

People received care from staff they knew. Staff had a good understanding of people's needs, choices and preferences. People were encouraged to make decisions about how their care was provided and their privacy and dignity were protected and promoted. Staff gained people's consent before providing personal care.

People were involved in the planning of their care which was person centred and updated regularly. People were supported to express themselves, their views were acknowledged and acted upon. There was a complaints system in place and people were confident that any complaints would be responded to appropriately.

Staff were recruited using safe recruitment practices. Staff received training to enable them to meet people’s needs and were supported to carry out their roles.

The management team continually monitored the quality of the service, identifying issues and making changes to improve the care.

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.

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 5 January 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.