Archived: Kay Hitch Way

Updated 26 October 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 unannounced inspection was carried out by one inspector on 3 October 2016.

Before the inspection we looked at information that we held about the service including notifications. Notifications are information regarding important events that happen in the home that the provider is required to notify us about by law. We also spoke with a care manager from the local authority, a social worker, a learning disability nurse, an occupational therapist, a specialist nurse and a contracts monitoring officer with the local authority.

During the inspection we observed people’s care and support to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We spoke with two people living in the home, one relative, the manager and four members of care staff. We looked at two people’s care records. We also looked at other documentation including accidents and incidents forms, documents regarding Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, complaints and compliments, medicines administration records, quality monitoring information and health and safety records.

Updated 26 October 2016

Kay Hitch Way is registered to provide accommodation and personal care for up to four people. There were three people living at the home when we visited.

At our last comprehensive inspection of 14 December 2015 we found two breaches of the regulations. These concerned the deprivation of people’s liberty and assessment of their mental capacity, and arrangements regarding the monitoring of the quality of the service. The provider wrote and told us what they would do to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches.

We undertook this unannounced comprehensive inspection on 3 October 2016 and found the provider had followed their plan and had made improvements.

At the time of our inspection a registered manager was not in place. However, a manager had been appointed and was in the process of applying to become registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). A registered manager is a person who has registered with 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.

The CQC is required by law to monitor the operation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and report on what we find. We found that people’s rights were being protected as DoLS applications were in progress where required and had been submitted to the relevant local authorities.

People who lived in the home were assisted by staff in a way that supported their safety and that they were treated respectfully. There were healthcare and support plans in place to ensure that staff had guidance to meet people’s individual care needs. The care and support plans recorded people’s individual choices, their likes and dislikes and the assistance they required. Risks were identified and assessed to enable people to live as safely and independently as possible.

Staff cared for people in a kind, cheerful and sensitive way. They assisted people with personal care, activities/hobbies, cooking, meals and domestic tasks throughout our visit to the home.

Members of staff were trained to provide care which met people’s individual needs and wishes. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities. They were supported by the manager to maintain and develop their skills and knowledge through regular supervision and ongoing training.

People were able to raise any suggestions or concerns they might have with the manager and staff. People’s ways of communicating were understood by staff providing support. We observed that people were listened to and staff responded to them in an understanding and attentive way.

The manager and members of staff communicated well to ensure that people’s needs, activities and appointments for people were responded to in a timely manner.

Arrangements were in place to ensure that the quality of the service provided for people was regularly monitored by the manager and staff.

People who lived in the home were encouraged to share their views and arrangements were in place so that people could have their say about the care and services provided.