9 November 2016
During a routine inspection
32 Kentish Road is Southampton City Council’s respite service for adults with learning disabilities. It is registered to provide accommodation and care to a maximum of eight people at a time. People generally stayed at the service for several nights to a week, but could stay more or less depending on their needs. Respite stays were booked in advance but emergency and short notice stays could be arranged when necessary. Some people using the respite service continued to attend day services during their stay which meant there were less people in the building during the day.
This inspection took place on 9, 10 and 15 November 2016 and was unannounced.
There was a registered manager at the service. 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.
Some care and support was provided without gaining the person’s consent and some people’s privacy was not protected. Issues of concern had not been identified through the use of quality assurance.
People felt safe staying at the service. The staff team had received training in safeguarding adults and were aware of how to follow safeguarding procedures. People had risk assessments in place to ensure every day risks were identified and minimised where possible, whilst still enabling people to do what they wanted to do. People received their medicines as prescribed.
People enjoyed their meals and could choose what they ate. People made decisions about how they spent their time and what support they needed. They chose what activities they took part in and went out with staff support. Staff worked with health care professionals and supported people to see the doctor if necessary. People told us there was enough staff working at the service to support them. New staff had been transferred into the service following a process of induction and shadowing.
Positive caring relationships were developed with people using the service. People’s individual needs were known and their respite breaks were planned to ensure they had an enjoyable stay. Staff ensured they supported people with their personal care in ways which respected their dignity.
Staff knew people well and provided a service which was responsive to their individual needs. There was a complaints procedure in place and people felt able to complain.
The future of the service has remained uncertain as the service is planned for closure. During the inspection we identified concerns which had not been identified through the governance of the service. The provider sought feedback from people using the service and their responses were positive.
We identified breaches of two regulations of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 and made a recommendation with regard to quality assurance and you can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.