Archived: 177-179 Spring Grove Road

Updated 23 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 checked whether the provider was 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 8 November 2016 and was unannounced.

The inspection visit was carried out by one inspector. Following the visit, an expert-by-experience telephoned and spoke with four relatives of people who used the service. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The expert-by-experience supporting this inspection had personal experience of caring for someone who used registered services.

Before the inspection visit we looked at all the information we held about the service. This included notifications of significant events and the last inspection report.

During the visit we met the people who lived at the service. None of them were able to tell us about their experiences or how well the service met their needs. Therefore we observed how they were being cared for and we spoke with the relatives of four people after our visit to ask for their feedback. During the visit we spoke with the registered manager and other staff on duty who included, the deputy manager, senior support workers and support workers. Following the visit we had contact from the provider's operations manager. We also spoke with two external professionals who worked with people at the service.

We looked at the care records for three people, staff recruitment, training and support records, records of complaints, meeting minutes and other records the provider uses for providing the regulated activity. We also looked at how medicines were stored, administered and managed and the environment.

Updated 23 December 2016

The inspection took place on 8 November 2016 and was unannounced.

The last inspection took place on 1 February 2016 when we found breaches of five Regulations relating to dignity and respect, person centred care, safe care and treatment, good governance and notifications of incidents. At the inspection of 8 November 2016 we found that improvements had been made. In particular people were receiving better support with their health and the care was safer. In addition the registered manager had introduced systems to monitor and manage the service which had improved the way in which people were cared for. However, we found that further improvements were still needed. In particular care was not always provided in a person centred way.

177-179 Spring Grove Road is a care home for up to eight adults with a learning disability. At the time of the inspection six people were living at the home. Some people also had physical disabilities, a range of complex health needs and were not able to communicate their needs verbally. Voyage 1 Limited is an organisation providing care and support to people with learning disabilities, autism and brain injury throughout the United Kingdom in residential, outreach and day services.

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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People living at the service did not always have care which reflected their individual needs and preferences.

There had been improvements to the way in which the service was managed and run. This had impacted on the lives of people who lived there. In particular there had been improvements to the way in which their health needs were monitored and met. There had also been improvements to their safety and the way in which they were supported to eat and drink.

People living at the service could not tell us about their experiences, but their relatives told us they thought they were happy living there. Relatives and professionals told us they recognised the improvements at the service and felt that these were positive. They expressed some concerns that further improvements were needed. In particular they felt that not all the staff working at the service had embraced the changes and this meant that people's needs would not always be met.

The staff were well supported and trained. There was clear information about their roles and responsibilities and the registered manager was accessible and supportive. There were enough staff employed to meet people's needs.

There had been improvements to record keeping and the way in which the service was monitored. The registered manager had introduced systems to make sure care was delivered safely and appropriately and these systems were followed.

People received their medicines in a safe way although further improvements were needed to some of the records and auditing of medicine supplies. People were safe and there were procedures to protect them from abuse and to safely recruit the staff.