Archived: Albany House

Updated 28 April 2016

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 10 February 2016 and was unannounced. The inspection was carried out by a single inspector.

Prior to the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service including statutory notifications received from the provider about significant events that had taken place at the service.

During the inspection we met all six people using the service and spoke with four. We also completed general observations of staff interacting with people using the service. We spoke with three care staff, the acting manager and the Director of Operations.

We looked at three people’s care records, three staff files, training records, audits and other records related to the management of the service.

We spoke with two relatives and following the inspection we contacted four health and social care professionals who supported people using the service for their views. Two of the health and social care professionals shared their views of the service with us.

Updated 28 April 2016

This inspection took place on 10 February 2016 and was unannounced. At our previous inspection of the service on 15 April 2014 we found that the provider was meeting all of the regulations we checked.

Albany House provides accommodation and care for up to six adults with learning disabilities, who also have Autism Spectrum Disorder. At the time of our inspection there were six people using the service, four women and two men.

There are six single occupancy bedrooms, five of which have an en suite bathroom. There is also a separate shower available. There is a communal kitchen, living room and activity room.

There was not a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection. The acting manager had been employed at the service since July 2015 and had submitted his application to register with the Care Quality Commission. 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.

There were enough staff working on each shift to support people, however the staff team was relatively new and there were staff vacancies that were impacting on the operation of the service. Staff recruitment checks were completed as required but these were not always sufficiently robust to ensure that staff were suitable to work with people using the service.

Risks to people’s safety were assessed and management plans were in place that helped reduce the risks whilst balancing people’s rights to make their own decisions and medicines were managed safely.

Staff did not received adequate training to ensure that they had the skills and knowledge to meet people’s individual needs. Staff received support through supervision and there was an annual appraisal system in place.

People’s health and nutritional needs were met and people were supported to make choices about what they wanted to do and what they ate. Staff understood their responsibilities in relation to the Mental Capacity Act and ensured people’s consent was sought for any decisions made about their care and support but best interests assessments were not always recorded.

People told us staff treated them well and we observed positive interactions between staff and people using the service.

People’s needs were assessed and detailed care plans written so that staff knew how to support people. However, these documents were not organised in a way that made them easy to read and understand.

We found that people were supported to take part in a range of activities that met their interests and saw that people were supported to maintain relationships with people who were important to them.

There were gaps in the leadership team that were affecting how the service was run. However, audits were completed to check how the service was operating and we saw that there were plans in place to make improvements.

We have made one recommendations in relation to care planning.

We found breaches of regulations in related to staff training and record keeping in relation to managing behaviour that challenged the service. You can see what action we have told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.