8 October 2019
During a routine inspection
The service did not have a registered manager. The registered provider had full oversight of the service and supported the inspection process.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The registered provider had not reviewed and kept their policies and procedures up to date to reflect best practice guidance. Audit systems were in place but had not been consistently completed to ensure areas for development and improvement were identified in a timely manner.
Medication was managed safely. Staff who managed medication had completed the required training and had their competency regularly assessed. Staff had access to best practice guidelines to support their practice. Medication administration records (MARs) were fully completed. We have made a recommendation about the auditing of medication.
People were supported by staff that had been safely recruited and had received training to support them in their role. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs and people told us regular staff visited them and had got to know them well.
People’s needs were assessed before they were supported by the service. Each person had a care plan that included their preferences and routines. Care plans were person centred and held sufficient information to guide staff on how best to meet people’s needs. People told us staff were kind, caring and attentive. Staff had a clear understanding of how to meet people’s individual needs. Staff supported people in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests.
Staff had received training on how to keep people safe. They told us they felt confident to raise any concerns they had about people’s safety.
Staff had received infection control training and followed good practice to minimise the risk of infection being spread. People’s privacy and dignity was respected, and their independence promoted to the full. People spoke positively about the service and the staff that supported them.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update: The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 11 October 2018) and there were two breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulation 18 however; improvements were still required to regulation 17.
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.