Archived: Poppies

Updated 1 December 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 19 and 20 October 2016 and was unannounced. It was carried out by one inspector from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Before the inspection, we review the service’s completed Provider Information Return (PIR) which they had sent to us. 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 also reviewed the information available to us about the service, such as notifications. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law.

On the first day of our inspection, we spoke with three people who lived at the home to gather their views on the quality of the service. However, these conversations were limited because people chose not to speak with us at length, or because of the nature of their disability. We therefore used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI) to observe how care was delivered. SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We also spoke with three care staff members, an agency member of staff, a senior member of staff, a visiting healthcare professional and the registered manager.

We reviewed the care records and risk assessments for two people who lived at the home, and looked at three people’s medicines and medicines administration records. We also reviewed the recruitment, training and supervision records for three members of staff, and reviewed information on how the quality of the service was monitored and how complaints were managed.

We spoke with three relatives of people who lived at the home on the second day of our inspection.

Updated 1 December 2016

This inspection took place on 19 and 20 October 2016 and was unannounced. We last inspected this service on 22 October 2013 and found that they were meeting the legal requirements in the areas we looked at.

Poppies is a residential care home that provides accommodation and support for up to six people with learning disabilities and/or those who are in the autistic spectrum. At the time of our inspection there were six people living at the home.

The home had a registered manager 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 approachable and supportive of people who lived at the home and of the staff team.

The provider had effective systems to safeguard people from avoidable harm. There were personalised and environmental risk assessments in place to reduce or manage risks posed to people, staff and visitors to the home. There was a sufficient number of staff who were trained and knew how to meet people’s care needs. People’s medicines were administered safely and they were supported to access healthcare services to maintain their health and well-being.

Staff understood the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and sought people’s consent before providing care and support. They were trained in areas that were relevant to the needs of the people who lived at the home. They were knowledgeable about people’s care needs and they provided appropriate support to people. People had enough to eat and drink and they were provided with a choice of food, snacks and drinks as appropriate.

People were supported to express their views and be actively involved in making decisions about their care. Staff treated them with dignity and respect and encouraged them to maintain their independence, interests and hobbies. Staff were also respectful and friendly in their interactions with people.

People’s needs had been identified before they moved to the home, and changes to people’s needs were managed appropriately. People had personalised care plans that gave guidance to staff on meeting people’s needs. They were supported by the staff team to take part in activities that were of interest to them.

The provider had an effective system in place for handling complaints. They encouraged feedback from people and acted on this to improve the quality of the service. They also had an effective quality monitoring process in place to ensure continual improvement of the service.