Background to this inspection
Updated
14 November 2017
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 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.
This announced inspection took place on 21 August 2017. The inspection team consisted of one inspector.
Before our inspection we reviewed information we held about the service. We looked at our own records to see if we had received any concerns or compliments about the home. We analysed any information on statutory notifications we had received from the provider. A statutory notification is information about important events, which the provider is required to send us by law.
We also sought information and views from the local authority and the local Healthwatch about the quality of the service provided. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion, which promotes the views and experiences of people who use health and social care services. We used this information as part of our planning for the inspection.
As part of the inspection we met four of the five people who lived at the home. We spoke with two people’s relatives. We could not speak with the people who used the service as they had limited verbal communication skills. We did however sit with people and observe interactions with staff. We spoke with the registered manager, the assistant manager and three support staff who were working at the time of our visit. We also spoke with four healthcare professionals and received written feedback from another.
We looked at the care and support plans of two people who used the service and reviewed other records relating to people’s care. We also looked at two staff files, health and safety audits and other records relating to the running of the home and how he provider monitored the quality of the service provided.
Updated
14 November 2017
The inspection took place on 21 August 2017 and was announced. The registered manager was given short notice of the inspection, because we needed to make sure they and the people who lived at the home were available to assist with the inspection.
30 Keepers Crescent provide care and accommodation for up to five people with a learning disability. There were five people living in the home on the day of the inspection and there was a registered manager in post. 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 last inspection the service was providing a good quality of service. At this inspection they continue to do so.
Although safe staffing numbers were maintained the skills mix, due to staffing shortages, impacted upon people’s current opportunities to receive a responsive service.
People were supported safely. Staff had a good understanding of potential abuse and knew how to protect people from the risk of harm. Risks were identified and well managed in order to keep people safe. Staff were confident they could safely manage behaviours of concern. Consistency and good routines helped people feel safe and secure. Staff were recruited through safe recruitment practices meaning that only people suitable to work in the role were appointed.
People were protected by safe systems in place to enable them to receive their medicines safely.
People were supported by staff who had the knowledge and skills to provide effective support. Staff received good training opportunities and training had been developed around the individual needs of the people who used the service. Staff felt very well supported by the registered manager and their colleagues.
Staff knew people well and communicated effectively with people. Staff worked well as a team to meet people’s complex and changing needs.
People enjoyed a balanced and healthy diet. Staff were creative to offer variety and choices.
People’s constantly changing health care needs were met and staff worked closely with healthcare professionals to ensure people’s conditions were identified and managed.
People were supported by staff who were kind and caring. People were encouraged to express their individuality and be as independent as they were able. People were supported to develop and maintain friendships and personal relationships. People’s privacy and dignity was respected and promoted and people knew how they should be treated.
People were at the heart of the service delivery and support was centred on people’s individual needs and wishes. People had experienced a number of health challenges and staff had responded to these positively and proactively.
Support was very person centred and records detailed people’s life histories, hopes and dreams as well as their support needs.
People were confident that their complaints would be listened to, taken seriously and acted on.
The service was well led. The provider, as an organisation, was looking at innovative ideas to improve the service. Staff felt consulted, involved and valued. People’s relatives were regularly asked for their views about the quality of the service and reviews of care and support identified that people were receiving a good service. There were systems in place to monitor practices and processes. The environment required improvement in some areas and the registered manager was actively addressing this.