Archived: Morley Road

Updated 22 March 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 inspection took place on 30 and 31 January 2017 and was unannounced.

Before our inspection we reviewed the information we held about the home. This included the Provider Information Return (PIR). A PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We were not able to view the PIR for this service due to technical issues on our behalf. We also looked at the statutory notifications and other intelligence which the Care Quality Commission had received about the home.

During the inspection, we spent time with two staff who worked at the service, the service manager, the community learning disability nurse employed by the provider, the deputy manager and one of the area managers. We observed the care and support for one person living at the home, and contacted the relatives of another person to gain their views. The other people living at the home were unable to speak with us.

We looked at the care records for two people using the service, three staff personnel files and records relevant to the quality monitoring of the service.

Updated 22 March 2017

This unannounced inspection of Morley Road took place on 30 and 31 January 2017. The inspection was conducted by an adult social care inspector.

Located in a residential area of Southport, Morley Road is a four bedroomed house that provides 24-hour support to four people who have a profound learning disability. The home is situated close to Southport town centre, local community facilities and public transport links.

A registered manager was 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. The registered manager was on leave at the time of our inspection.

We were unable to speak to the people living at the home, however we did observe the care and support for one person, and we spoke to the family member of another person, who told us they felt Morley Road was a safe place for the person to live and their relative was kept safe from harm.

People told us there were enough suitably trained staff to meet their individual care needs. Staff were only appointed after a thorough recruitment process. Staff were available to support people to go on trips or visits within the local and wider community and attend medical appointments. People were also support to pursue hobbies and other personal interests.

People received their medicines as prescribed and safe practices had been followed in the administration and recording of medicines.

External safety checks by contractors were taking place.

People had been referred to healthcare professionals when needed.

The deputy manager and the staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and associated legislation and had taken appropriate steps to ensure people exercised choice were possible. Where people did not have capacity, this was documented appropriately and decisions were made in their best interest with the involvement of family members where appropriate and relevant health care professionals. This showed the provider understood and was adhering to the Mental Capacity Act 2005.This is legislation to protect and empower people who may not be able to make their own decisions.

The provider was meeting their requirements set out in the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). DoLS is part of the Mental Capacity Act (2005).

We observed staff delivering support with kindness. They knew people well and were aware of their history, preferences and dislikes. People’s privacy and dignity were upheld. Staff monitored people’s health and welfare needs and acted on issues identified.

Some people were making use of advocacy services at the time of our inspection.

Care plans with regards to people’s preferred routines and personal preferences were well documented and plainly written to enable staff to gain a good understanding of the person they were supporting. Care plans contained a high level of person centred information. Person centred means the service was tailored around the needs of the person, and not the organisation.

We discussed complaints with the deputy manager. Complaints had been responded to by the registered manager and appropriately dealt with including any changes which needed to be implemented because of the complaint.

Quality assurance procedures were robust and identified when actions needed to be implemented to drive improvements. We saw that quality assurance procedures were highly organised and processes had been implemented from another internal source to help support the service to continuously improve. We were shown these procedures by the deputy manager during our inspection.

Feedback had been gathered from people who used the service in the form of questionnaires. This was presented in a way people understood.