Richmond Village Nantwich DCA

Updated 9 November 2018

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 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.

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

Inspection site visit activity started on 14 September 2018 and ended on 19 September 2018. It included viewing care records, talking to people who use the service, relatives and observations. We visited the office location on 17 and 18 September 2018 to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.

The inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector and an expert by experience. An Expert-by-Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We had not requested a provider information report since 9 December 2016.

We viewed three care plans and their associated care records and medication administration sheets, spoke with three people who used the service, one relative and five staff members including the managers. We observed people participating in two groups, a reading group and a rhythm and rhyme group during the inspection and viewed Richmond Village's face book page evidencing their events and activities held at the village.

Updated 9 November 2018

This inspection took place on 14 and 19 September 2018 and was announced.

The registered manager and the village manager were providing exceptional leadership demonstrating a cohesive and collaborative governance structure within the service. They had worked within the service for over 20 years and had embedded robust governance processes and systems.

A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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.

We provided the registered manager with 48 hours’ notice to ensure they were in at the time of the inspection. The registered manager and the village manager were present on both days of our inspection.

This unique service was based within a village called Richmond Village set within the community of Nantwich. This service provides care and support to people over 55 years of age living in specialist 'extra care' housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation people lived in was bought and therefore, their own home. People's care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people's personal care and support service.

A remarkable standard of person-centred care was being achieved and delivered for people. Staff knew people’s background, previous occupation, likes and dislikes extremely well and went the extra mile to create positive experiences for people.

There was an exceptionally positive, inclusive culture across the management and staff team. Staff were encouraged to think creatively of ways to replicate familiar experiences or interests to enrich people’s lives.

The service was following best practice guidance from the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence, in-particular for people living with dementia.

People receiving a service told us they were actively participating within the events and activities being arranged for people living in the village, the adjoining care home and also the wider community. This created an inclusive community for people.

Staff were clearly going the extra mile and were passionate about providing people with care which enhanced their health and wellbeing. The staff delivering care for people demonstrated an exceptionally kind and had a compassionate approach. People described exceptional care when describing how they were treated.

People were being supported to remain in their own home in the village for as long as possible to maintain their independence. The activities and events being provided were providing people with physical exercise and enjoyment to maintain their health and wellbeing.

There were enough staff to ensure people received a flexible and person-centred service which met their changing needs. The recruitment files we viewed had robust checks in place.

There was a comprehensive training programme for staff to ensure staff were skilled and knowledgeable to deliver effective care. Staff were receiving induction, supervisions and appraisals.

Staff were aware of their responsibilities in Safeguarding people from potential abuse and we could see clear systems were in place to record and track safeguarding concerns. Incidents and accidents were being recorded with learning action points seen and acted upon.

People and their relatives told us the service was well managed and they could approach staff or managers who were always polite, helpful and kind. We could see regular checks being undertaken by the management team.

People and relatives, we spoke with told us they would be comfortable raising a complaint if needed but we found no complaints had been raised. Positive feedback about the service was seen and the service had a clear complaints policy, this was readily available in the event people wanted to make a complaint.

Feedback by way of questionnaires and a survey had been undertaken by the managers to ensure they were continuously learning. Audits and quality checks had been undertaken regularly.

Medicines were being managed safely with a medicines policy and regular quality and competency checks being undertaken to ensure good practice was being sustained.

Care plans contained detailed specific risk assessments and care plans such as for manual handling and falls.