Archived: Hipswell Highway

Updated 27 August 2015

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 was 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.

The inspection visit took place on 21 July 2015 and was unannounced. We inspected this service with two inspectors.

We observed the care and support provided in communal areas to people who lived at Hipswell Highway. We spoke with four people who used the service, and two relatives of people who used the service.

We visited the service and looked at the records of four people and looked at three staff records. We also reviewed records which demonstrated the provider monitored the quality of service people received.

We spoke with the manager, and three members of care staff.

We reviewed information we held about the service, for example, notifications the provider sent to inform us of events which affected the service. We looked at information received from commissioners of the service and health professionals who supported people at the service. Commissioners are people who work to find appropriate care and support services which are paid for by the local authority.

Updated 27 August 2015

This inspection took place on 21 July 2015. The inspection was unannounced. This was the first time we had inspected this service.

Hipswell Highway is registered to provide accommodation to a maximum of six people with learning disabilities. There were four people staying at the service at the time of our inspection.

A requirement of the provider’s registration is that they have 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. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager at the service. We refer to the registered manager as the manager in the body of this report.

People and their relatives told us they felt safe with staff, and staff treated them well. The manager and staff understood how to protect people they supported from abuse, and knew what procedures to follow to report any concerns. There were enough staff at Hipswell Highway to support people safely and provide people with support to go out. The provider had recruitment procedures in place that made sure staff were of a suitable character to care for people safely.

Medicines were stored and administered safely, and people received their prescribed medicines as intended. People were supported to attend health care appointments with health care professionals when they needed to, and received healthcare that supported them to maintain their wellbeing.

People and their relatives thought staff were kind and responsive to people’s needs, and people’s privacy and dignity was respected.

Management and staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA), and supported people in line with these principles. People were able to make everyday decisions themselves, which helped them to maintain their independence.

People were supported to go on holiday and to go out in their local community when they wished. Activities, interests and hobbies were arranged according to people’s individual preferences, needs and abilities. People who lived at Hipswell Highway were encouraged to maintain links with friends and family who visited them at the home when invited.

Staff, people and their relatives felt the manager was approachable. Positive communication was encouraged and identified concerns were acted upon by the manager and provider. Staff were supported by the manager through regular meetings. Staff felt their training and induction supported them to meet the needs of people they cared for.

People told us they knew how to make a complaint if they needed to. The provider monitored complaints to identify any trends and patterns, and made changes to the service in response to complaints.

People were supported to develop the service they received by providing feedback about how the home was run. The provider acted on the feedback they received to improve things.

There were procedures in place to check the quality of care people received, and where issues had been identified, the provider acted to make improvements.