The Care Quality Commission
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Archived: Tower House

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Unit One, Tower House, Tower Road, Birkenhead, Cheshire, CH41 1FH (0151) 334 7510

Provided and run by:
Autism Together

Important: This service is now registered at a different address - see new profile

All Inspections

30 January 2018

During a routine inspection

This unannounced inspection was carried out on 30 and 31 January 2018 by one social care inspector.

Tower House is part of a wide range of services provided by the registered charity Autism Together. The service manages the charity’s supported living services on the Wirral. The service provides support for people who live in their own homes in shared accommodation or single tenancies. The service supports approximately 70 people to manage their tenancy agreements for the place they live in. The service provides varying degrees of personal care and support for people with autism. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

The service had two registered managers, who had both worked for the organisation for many years. 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.

We last inspected the service in April 2015 and gave it an overall rating of good. At this inspection we found that the service remained good.

We spoke with the people supported by the service and their relatives who gave us positive feedback about the service and the staff providing the support. We saw that people were supported to live independent lives and spend their time doing things they enjoyed. They were supported by staff who treated people as individuals and knew the people they were supporting well.

Medication was stored, administered and recorded safely and people told us they received their medicines on time and with the support they needed. Staff responsible for the administration of medicines had received training to ensure they had the competency and skills required.

Staff were safely recruited and received regular supervisions and appraisals to support them in their roles. The service had an effective system in place to monitor, record and book training for staff to ensure they had the skills and knowledge they needed to support the people with their specific needs. We saw that staff were up-to-date with their training and they told us they received the training they needed to do their jobs well.

Staff we spoke with understood the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and we saw that the service was following the principles of the MCA. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The service also had policies and systems in place to support this practice.

Care plans were person-centred, regularly reviewed and contained appropriate risk assessments to help keep people safe and give staff the information they needed to effectively manage any risks.

We saw that the senior management at the service had a variety of methods to assess and monitor the quality of the service. These included regular audits of the various locations where people lived and regular staff meetings to share learning points and gather feedback from staff.

14 April 2015

During a routine inspection

Tower House is a domiciliary care service. It is a service provided by Wirral Autistic Society (WAS) which provides support and personal care to people who are on the autism spectrum who may also have additional disabilities, such a physical or learning disability. The service is provided to people living in their own homes, usually rented through various partner housing associations or groups. This arrangement is often known as ‘supported living’.

The inspection took place on 14, 15, 16 and 20 April 2015. It was an announced inspection as we needed to make sure that people were going to be available for us to talk with. We visited Tower House offices and one supported living home on the first day and another on the second day. On the last day, 20 April, we visited the headquarters of Wirral Autistic Society (WAS), to review centrally held records not available at Tower House office itself. During these dates, we made phone calls to staff and relatives of the people who used the service.

The service had a registered manager. 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.

We found that the service was safe and effective. People told us they felt safe and we saw that staff knew how to ensure they were safe. There were enough staff who had been trained and supported by the provider. They knew how to ensure that people were supported properly. They were knowledgeable about how to provide a service to meet their needs.

The service was caring and people and their relatives told us this. The service was responsive to people’s individual needs and made sure any concerns were addressed. It was a well led service, with staff, relatives and most of all, people being happy with the way it was managed. Tower House benefitted from the research and best practice which the provider promoted through their specialist department.

We had asked the people who used the service, their relatives and the staff who supported those people, what their views were. We also talked with the local commissioners of the service, the quality assurance team of the local authority and looked at our own records to gain information. Overall, these sources confirmed our findings on the inspection, that the service was good and that the people who used the service, were happy with it.

3 October 2013

During a routine inspection

On the day of our visit we spoke with five relatives and one person who used the service who were happy with the standard of support provided. One relative told us: 'The staff are great' and another told us 'The service has improved and my son is more settled.'

All the relatives we spoke with told us they were part of the care planning process and they regularly attended care reviews and best interest meetings. We found that all staff we spoke with were knowledgeable about the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and the issues of consent and had received training.

We found that the service had safeguarding measures in place and that staff were trained to identify and act if there were any safeguarding issues.

We found that the service had robust recruitment procedures in place and enough staff to look after the people who used the service.