Background to this inspection
Updated
16 March 2023
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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.
Inspection Team
The inspection was carried out by 1 inspector who visited the service.
Service and service type
This service 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 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.
Registered manager
This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.
At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 21 February 2023 and ended on 27 February 2023. We visited the location’s office on 21 February 2023.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection.
We looked at 3 people’s care plans, 3 recruitment records and a variety of information relating to the management of the service. The inspector spoke with 6 staff including the registered manager, the care manager and 4 care staff.
We spoke with 3 people who used the service for their experience of the care provided. We obtained feedback from a health professional who supported people at the service, about their experience of the care people received.
Updated
16 March 2023
Aurelia Branch is a purpose-built, ‘Retirement housing with care’ scheme and is registered to provide personal care to older people in their own homes. This includes people with dementia, learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder, mental health needs, sensory impairments and physical disabilities. Aurelia Branch consists of 34 flats across two floors and 1 bungalow. Care and support is provided to people, in their own homes, by care and support workers. People have access to call bells on their person, to request support at any time. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection visit, 5 people were supported with personal care.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. 'Right support, right care, right culture' is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.
Right Support
Care staff had not received specific training to meet the needs of people with a learning disability. However, 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.
Right Care
Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human rights.
Right Culture
The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensured people using services led confident, inclusive and empowered lives.
Quality assurance checks were not all effective and had not identified some issues identified in our inspection, such as gaps in individual’s risk management.
In the main, we were assured infection prevention controls were being followed.
People felt safe using the service. Staff understood how to recognise and report abuse. Staff recruitment processes included background checks to review their suitability to work with vulnerable adults.
People spoke positively about the staff and the care they provided. Staff felt supported by the registered manager and the care manager.
The registered manager was open and honest and worked in partnership with outside agencies. They were committed to making improvements to the service.
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was good (published 26 June 2019).
The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.
Why we inspected
We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all extra care housing inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.
We received concerns in relation to the management of medicines. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.
For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.
You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
Follow-up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk