Archived: Creative Support - Oaktree House and Cedar Court

Creative Support - Oaktree House and Cedar Court provides personal care and support to people living in flats. At the time of the inspection, 47 people were receiving personal care.

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.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The service had ensured that medicines were given to people safely and regular audits were in place to ensure this. People’s risks assessments were clearly written and easy to follow meaning that people were less likely to suffer harm.

Systems were in place for people to raise concerns and they felt they would be listened to. People felt that staff were caring, and regular activities were available for them to take part in if they wished to.

The provider was able to demonstrate that quality assurance systems had improved to ensure the quality of the service was maintained. The provider was able to demonstrate their compliance with legal obligations and any trends or learning from incidents or accidents was identified and actioned effectively.

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 30 September 2019) 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 regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 22 and 25 July 2019. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve in safe care and treatment and good governance.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions safe and well-led which contain those requirements.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Creative Support – Oaktree House and Cedar Court on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.

Creative Support Oaktree House and Cedar Court is a is a domiciliary care agency (DCA) providing personal care to people in specialist ‘extra care’ care house. At the time of the inspection 29 people at Oaktree House and 23 people at Cedar Court were being supported by the service with personal care.

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.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

We found that medicines were not always managed safely. In Oaktree House, where people had been administered medicines, staff had not always signed the associated medicine administration record (MAR) to evidence people had been administered their medicines. People were at risk of receiving too much medicine or not receiving their medicines at all.

Risks to people were not always managed in a safe way. Risk assessments were not always adhered to following an incident or accident.

The management team could not evidence they used quality assurance systems at all times to identify any trends and oversee and improve the quality of the service, where necessary. However, the management team had a ‘managers self-assessment tool’ completed for both Oaktree House and Cedar Lodge in June 2018. This was a tool the management team used to support the delivery in the service.

The registered manager undertook the required staff recruitment checks including criminal checks with the Disclosure and Barring Service, however, the registered manager could not always evidence they had taken a full employment history of staff.

We made a recommendation that the service consider current legislation.

People and those important to them were encouraged and involved in making sure people received the care and support they wanted. Care plans were drawn up with people, using input from their relatives. Staff respected people’s choices about how and where they wanted to spend their time. People’s care plans clearly highlighted how they like to receive care

People were supported to develop and maintain relationships with people that mattered to them and avoid social isolation. The service had a range of activities where people would actively get involved.

Safeguarding processes were however in place to protect people.

MCA all reports–People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported /did not support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported/ did not support this practice.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 23/04/2018 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on our published timescales.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well led sections of this full report.

Enforcement

We have identified two breaches. Regulation 12 proper and safe management of medicines and the registered person failed to ensure risks relating to the safety and welfare of people using the service were assessed and managed at this inspection. Regulation 17 The registered person had not established an effective system to enable them to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service provided.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.