4 May 2021
During a routine inspection
Carewatch (Colebrook House) is an extra care housing scheme providing support to people living in their own flats and houses across two schemes. Carewatch (Colebrook House) provides care and support to 57 flats at Colebrook House and 43 flats and two bungalows at Richard Neve. At the time of this inspection, 68 people were using the service.
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
Records were not always complete, consistent, updated when required and personalised to individual needs. There were systems and processes in place for assessing and monitoring the quality and safety of the service. The improvements made had not been fully embedded across both schemes and sustained over a period of time to consistently achieve best outcomes for people.
We have made a recommendation about the infection prevention and control and supporting people with their communication needs.
People and their relatives told us they felt safe using the service and that improvements were being made to the quality of care and support received. Risk to people were identified and assessed but risk management plans were not always personalised to meet individual needs. Despite this staff knew people well and the management team was in the process of reviewing and updating all care and risk management plans to be in line with their current standards. People received care and support from staff that were supported through training, supervision and appraisal.
People were supported by staff that were kind and caring towards them. Staff supported people with activities, however, this was limited due to COVID19 restrictions.
Staff understood their responsibility to protect people from the risk of abuse and to report any concerns of abuse. There were enough staff available to support people’s needs and appropriate recruitment procedures were followed before staff started working at the service. People were supported to manage their medicines safely. Lessons were learnt from accidents and incidents.
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.
Before people began using the service their needs were assessed to ensure they could be met. People were supported to maintain good health; eat healthily and access healthcare services when required. Staff respected people’s privacy, dignity and promoted their independence. Staff understood people's diverse needs and supported them in a caring way. People were involved in making decisions about their care and support needs and knew how to complain if they were unhappy about the service.
Care and support was planned and delivered to meet people’s needs and people were encouraged to build relationships with those that were important to them.
The manager understood their responsibility for meeting regulatory requirements. We received mixed views from staff about the culture and the way the service was managed. The provider gathered the views of people, their relatives and staff to improve on the quality of service. The service worked in partnership with key organisations to deliver an effective service.
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 10 December 2020). 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
The inspection was carried out to monitor for improvements following our last inspection. We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led key question sections of this full report. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern.
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.