Archived: High Street

Updated 4 June 2015

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 inspection took place on 21 January 2015 and was unannounced.

The inspection was undertaken by one adult social care inspector.

During the visit, we met with a variety of people and spoke with some relatives via the telephone including: three people living at the home; three relatives; the registered manager, one social worker and a support worker. We spoke with people throughout the home and observed how support was provided to people during the day.

We used a number of different methods to help us understand the experiences of people who live at High Street. We looked at a sample of documentation such as: one staff file showing supervision and training, staff recruitment; medication records; menus; complaint records; activity lists; minutes of meetings; risk assessments; quality assurance audits; policies and procedures and maintenance records. We looked at a total of three care plans for people that live at High Street.

Before our inspection the service provided us with a detailed provider information return [PIR] which allowed us to prepare for the inspection. This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and any improvements they plan to make. We looked at any notifications received and reviewed any other information we held prior to visiting.

We also invited the local authority safeguarding, quality assurance and commissioning functions to provide us with any information they held about the service.

Updated 4 June 2015

This inspection took place on 21January 2015 and was unannounced. At our last inspection in August 2014 the service was meeting the regulations inspected.

The home has a registered manager with CQC. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service and has the legal responsibility for meeting the requirements of the law; as does the provider. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act and associated regulations about how the service is run.

High Street care home is owned and managed by East Cheshire Housing Consortium [ECHC]. The home is based in Crewe, Cheshire and provides care and support for adults who have mental health needs. Six people can be accommodated in the property. ECHC is a charitable organisation that provides care and support to people who experience mental health issues. The main office is also situated in Crewe.

We found the staff had clear understanding of supporting people when they lacked capacity, including the requirements of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards and in the implementation of best interest decisions and capacity assessments.

We found care plans to be detailed regarding the personal care and clinical needs for people living at High Street and they fully focused on the individual person. Staff had a good understanding and knowledge of people’s individual care needs. Social support was well recorded within care plans to help determine individualised needs to include work and recreational activity.

We observed how staff interacted with people living at the home. They were respectful to people and interacted with them in a positive manner displaying clear knowledge and understanding of people’s hobbies, interests and communication systems.

We asked about complaints and the support worker showed us that the complaints file was empty and that no formal complaints had been made about the home. However people living at the home and their relatives told us they were confident that they could raise their opinions and discuss any issues with staff.

The service operated safe staff recruitment and ensured that all staff employed were suitable to work with vulnerable people. Safe recruitment checks were carried out prior to employment. Personnel files showed good evidence that recruitment procedures were robust to enable the management of the home to have adequate information before employing staff.

Various audits at the service were carried out by the registered manager and registered provider to help ensure that adequate standards were maintained throughout the service. They had evaluated these audits and created action plans for improvement in areas such as: supervision of staff, training needs for staff and staffing levels were under review including staffing levels needed at meal times. People living at the home, their relatives and staff were positive about the service and how it was managed