Housing 21 - Knaves Court

Updated 19 June 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.

Inspection team:

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type:

Housing & Care 21 – Knaves Court provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is bought or rented and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service.

The extra care service had 60 flats in total in one building, over three floors. However, not everyone living there had personal care from the service.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means 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:

The inspection was announced. We gave the service one days’ notice. This is so the registered manager could let people know we would be visiting and arrange for us to speak with people. The inspection site visit activity started and ended on 26 April 2019.

What we did:

We used the information we held about the service, including notifications, to plan our inspection. A notification is information about events that by law the registered persons should tell us about. We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return (PIR). This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We spoke with three people who used the service, two relatives, four care staff, the care manager and the registered manager. We viewed three care files for people, some of which included daily notes and medicines records. We looked at documents relating to the management of the service such as audits, meeting records and surveys. We also checked two staff recruitment files.

Updated 19 June 2019

About the service: House & Care 21 – Knaves Court is an extra care service, where people live in their own flats in a purpose-built building. It was providing personal care to 25 people aged 55 and over at the time of the inspection. People had a range of support needs such as those living with dementia or a learning disability, those who needed support due to their mental health and people with a sensory or physical impairment.

People’s experience of using this service:

People were supported by a dedicated staff team who were keen to develop their knowledge and experience and were supported by a committed registered manager and management team.

People received support that was exceptionally personalised and responsive to their needs. Staff knew people well. People were holistically supported and felt positive about the impact the support they received had on their life. Strong caring values were embedded in the service. People knew how to and felt able to complain and this feedback was acted upon. No one was currently receiving end of life care. However, staff had delivered a positive palliative care approach in the past.

Staff were consistently supported to be effective in their role and develop their knowledge and confidence. There was continuous learning by staff and following incidents. People and staff were engaged in the service, asked for feedback and ideas which were acted upon. The service was closely monitored and areas for improvement identified. The provider worked in partnership and made links with the local community to the benefit of people using the service.

People had their risks assessed and planned for to help keep them safe. Staff understood their safeguarding responsibilities and knew how to keep people safe. People were supported to have their medicines as prescribed and were protected from the risk of cross infection. Lessons were learned when things had gone wrong.

People had their needs assessed and care plans detailing these were put in place. People had access to other health professional to help keep them well. Staff received training to be effective in their role. People were supported to maintain a diet of their choice. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this.

People were supported by a kind and caring staff team who helped them to remain independent and were treated with dignity and respect. People were involved in decisions about their care and were involved in improving the service.

Rating at last inspection: At our last inspection in August 2016 (report published October 2016) the service was rated as good overall.

Why we inspected: This was a scheduled inspection based on the previous rating.

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

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk