Background to this inspection
Updated
30 July 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 21 April 2016 and it was unannounced. The inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Before the inspection, we reviewed information we held about the service, including the previous inspection report and notifications they had sent us. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send to us.
During the inspection, we spoke with one person who used the service and their visiting fiancé, two care staff, the registered manager and their manager. The other three people who used the service had limited verbal communication skills. Therefore, we used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experiences of people who could not talk with us.
We looked at care records for the four people who were staying at the service at the time of the inspection. We also looked at two staff files to review the provider’s recruitment, supervision and training processes. We reviewed information on how medicines and complaints were being managed, and how the provider assessed and monitored the quality of the service.
Updated
30 July 2016
We carried out an unannounced inspection on 21 April 2016.
The service provides short-term respite care and support to people with physical disabilities, learning disabilities and/or autistic spectrum conditions. Four people are supported by the service at a time and they had around 31 people who occasionally use the service.
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.
There were risk assessments in place that gave guidance to staff on how risks to people could be minimised. There were systems in place to safeguard people from risk of possible harm. The provider had effective recruitment processes in place and there was sufficient staff to support people safely.
Staff received regular supervision and they had been trained to meet people’s individual needs. They understood their roles and responsibilities to seek people’s consent prior to care being provided. Where people did not have capacity to consent to their care or make decisions about some aspects of their care, this was managed in line with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA).
People were supported by caring, friendly and respectful staff. They were supported to make choices about how they lived their lives. People’s health and wellbeing was promoted, and they were supported to access other health and care services when required.
People’s needs had been assessed, and care plans took account of their individual needs, preferences, and choices. They were supported to pursue their hobbies and interests.
The provider had a formal process for handling complaints and concerns. They encouraged feedback from people who used the service and their relatives, and they acted on the comments received to improve the quality of the service.
The provider’s quality monitoring processes had been used effectively to drive continuous improvements. The manager provided stable leadership and effective support to staff. They also promoted a caring culture within the service.