Sonali Gardens is an extra care service which was providing care to 17 people at the time of our visit. Coopers Court is also an extra care service which is registered at the same location, which was providing care to 38 people at the time of our inspection. Creative Support took over responsibility for providing these services in November 2014, and were registered with the Care Quality Commission for it in February 2015. This is the first inspection under this provider. The provider has recently taken over providing services to two other sites (Sue Starkey and Shipton Houses), and have informed us that they are temporarily managing these services from this location from 9 November 2015. As the Provider has applied to register these services in their own right, these were therefore excluded from this inspection.
The inspection took place at Sonali Gardens on 3 and 7 December 2015 at Sonali Gardens, and on 10 December at Coopers Court. The first day of our inspection at Sonali Gardens was unannounced.
Sonali Gardens is in a block of flats in Shadwell which consists of 30 one-person flats and 10 flats for couples. The building is owned and administered by Circle Housing. Creative Support are contracted by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets to provide extra care services to 21 people who live at Sonali Gardens, however at the time of our inspection 17 people were using the service. Sonali Gardens previously only accepted referrals from the Bengali community, and subsequently the majority of people who live there are Bengali speakers.
Coopers Court is a block of 34 flats in nearby Mile End, which is owned and administered by Sanctuary Housing. Creative Support provide extra care services to 33 people who live there. In extra care services, people occupy their own self-contained flats and receive care and support services which can include personal care and support with healthcare, finances and daily living skills. Coopers Court and Sonali Gardens contain additional shared facilities such as a laundry, accessible bathrooms and guest rooms. At Sonali Gardens there is a lounge on each floor and a prayer room on the first floor. Coopers Court has a large shared lounge and kitchen on the ground floor.
Coopers Court and Sonali Gardens have self-contained staff teams and each have a project manager. The area manager for Creative Support is the registered manager for both sites. 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.
Sonali Gardens is the registered location for both sites, which means that the Provider has told us that this is where the regulated activity is managed from. We found that this is not presently the case, although the registered manager had contacted us shortly before the inspection to ask whether this was a requirement and had put plans in place to address the matter.
The provider had a number of innovative means for delivering high quality support, particularly relating to staff training and supervision. This resulted in knowledgeable and skilled staff. People we spoke with were pleased with the care they received, and praised staff and managers. We found that the service delivered responsive and personalised care, with care plans regularly reviewed and support hours changed depending on people's needs.
Where there were risks to people using the service, the provider had comprehensive risk assessments in place in order to minimise these risks. People who used the service felt safe living there and safeguarding was taken seriously by managers, who were proactive at reporting concerns to the local authority.
The provider was not carrying out comprehensive audits of records relating to medicines, finances and daily records of support provided. This meant there was a possibility that mistakes could be made and not followed up appropriately. We have made a recommendation relating to how the provider carries out audits in relation to keeping people safe.
Care was person-centred and the service met people's cultural needs. People who used the service were treated with respect and people had the opportunity to tell their life stories. The service was proud of the work it did with people, and people benefitted from a varied and interesting programme of events and activities.