Meadows

Updated 22 May 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection:

This unannounced inspection took place on 26 March 2019. The inspection team consisted of one inspector.

Registered manager:

It is a condition of the provider’s registration that they have a manager registered with CQC. There was no registered manager at the time of our inspection. One of the providers who was also a director of the organisation was managing the service at the time of our inspection and applied to become registered manager shortly after our inspection. Within this report they will be referred to as the provider. They were assisted in the management of the company by other representatives from the wider organisation.

What we did:

As part of the inspection, we reviewed a range of information about the service. This included safeguarding alerts and statutory notifications, which related to the service. Statutory notifications include information about important events, which the provider is required to send us by law. Safeguarding alerts are information we receive when there are concerns about a person's safety.

The previous registered manager had submitted a Provider Information Return (PIR). This return provides information about a service, what is going well, and planned improvements. This information helps support our inspections. After the inspection the provider sent a revised PIR with updated information.

We focused on speaking with people who lived at the service. Where people were not able to speak with us or chose not to we used observation to understand the care people were receiving. We also spoke with two family members.

We spoke with the provider, another director and four care staff. We reviewed three care records. We also looked at a range of documents relating to the management of the service, including quality audits.

Updated 22 May 2019

About the service: Meadows is a care home for seven people with learning, physical and sensory disabilities. Some of the people at the service were deaf or hearing impaired and used British Sign Language (BSL) to communicate. There is also a supported living flat for one person adjacent to the service. At the time of the inspection there were seven people living in the care home and one person in the flat.

People’s experience of using this service:

People at the service achieved good outcomes and had good relationships with the staff who supported them.

The registered manager had left in 2018 and the service was being run by two directors. Shortly after our inspection one of the directors applied to become registered manager. This had been an unsettled period at the service, however we found the provider was focused on making things better for people by improving communication and the management culture. A committed and settled staff team had helped to ensure impact on people from the changes at the service was minimised.

Since our last inspection, concerns had been raised that people living at the service were at risk of financial abuse. The provider had acted swiftly and effectively in response; however, we were concerned measures had not been in place to pick up the risk to people in a timely manner. Audits and checks had now improved and the provider had better oversight of what was going on at the service.

Staff were committed and diligent about supporting people safely and knew what to do if they were concerned a person was at risk. The recent changes at the service, such as the new audits, were helping to improve systems which kept people safe. There were effective systems in place to ensure people received their medicines as prescribed.

The property was well maintained with systems in place to reduce the risk of infection. Specialist adaptations and equipment supported people who were deaf or hearing impaired.

There were enough safely recruited staff at the service. Staff were well supported and trained. The provider promoted an inclusive staffing team where individual staff members diverse needs were respected.

Staff worked well with external professionals to promote peoples’ health and wellbeing. People made choices about what they ate and drank and received the necessary support to manage any

specialist nutritional needs.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Staff communicated effectively with people, using a variety of communication methods, including BSL. They knew people well and provided care in a person-centred, flexible manner. Staff had sensitively considered people’s needs should they require end of life care.

There were systems in place to support people to complain. The provider had increased their visibility to give people, families and staff more opportunities to raise concerns.

Rating at last inspection:

Good. The last report was published on 26 October 2015.

Why we inspected:

This was a scheduled inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor this service to ensure people receive care which meets their needs.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk.