Archived: ExtraCare Charitable Trust Beacon Park Village

ExtraCare Charitable Trust is registered to provide personal care support to older people who live in their own apartments within the housing complex. There are 135 apartments and at the time of our inspection, 39 people received personal care support visits.

There was 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.

People felt safe having support from the service and within their home environments. They were supported by staff who had good knowledge and understanding about protecting people from harm and abuse. Staff knew how to respond to any concerns and were confident at doing this. Risks to individuals were assessed, reviewed and managed and staff followed plans to protect people from harm. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. Recruitment processes ensured that staff were safe to work with people and medicines were managed to reduce the risks associated with them.

People received support from staff who had the necessary knowledge to carry out their roles. Staff received training and support to develop their skills. People were able to make decisions about their support and staff sought their consent before care was provided. People were able to make choices about the food they ate and were supported to maintain their health and wellbeing.

Staff supported people in a kind and caring manner and people had developed positive relationships with them. People were involved in making decisions about their day to day care, and staff promoted their independence. People were treated with dignity and their privacy was respected.

People were involved with the planning of their support, and their care was responsive to their needs. Support was provided in an individual manner and peoples care plans were personal to them. People were supported to pursue activities that they enjoyed. They were aware of how to raise any concerns and complaints were dealt with in an open and timely manner.

The service was well managed and there were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service. This was through feedback from people who used the service, their relatives, staff and a programme of audits. These were used to drive continuous improvement within the service.

We were supported throughout the inspection by the manager and head of care. We spoke with people who used the service, relatives and staff.

We looked to see if people who used the service consented to their care and treatment. We found and people told us that they had consented to their care.

We checked to see that people's care and welfare needs were being met. People who used the service told us they were happy with the care they received. One person told us; 'It's like a big family here'.

At our previous inspection we had concerns that people's possessions were not being safeguarded. At this inspection we found that the manager had put systems in place to ensure staff knew the correct procedure for dealing with people's personal property.

We checked that medication was stored and administered appropriately. We found the service had effective systems in place to ensure that medication was managed appropriately.

We looked to see if the service was meeting requirements in the recruitment of new staff. We found that the service followed the correct recruitment procedure.

We looked to see if the service had a complaints procedure. We found that there was a procedure and people who used the service knew how to use it.

The service was decorated for Christmas and we saw people that used the service were enjoying the facilities available to them, such as the gym, cafe, restaurant and shop.

People we spoke with told us they loved living at Beacon Park and that the care they received was good.

The service had been through a period of low staffing and staff told us that it had been a busy and stressful time, but that things were getting better. Staff told us they enjoyed working at Beacon Park.

The manager had quality monitoring systems in place to continually monitor the quality of service being delivered to the people that used the service.

We had concerns over safeguarding procedures at Beacon Park. People who lacked capacity were not being supported to make decisions about their personal property.