Archived: Park View Road

Updated 23 February 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.

The inspection took place on 25 November 2015 and was unannounced.

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

As part of our inspection planning we reviewed the information we held about the home. This included information from the provider, notifications and speaking with the local authority contracts and safeguarding teams and contacting other professionals who are involved with the service. Before the inspection visit the provider sent us a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We spoke with one person who used the service. We observed how people were cared for and supported in the communal areas and observed the meal service at lunch time. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We spoke with the registered manager, two support workers, the chef and a visiting health care professional. We spoke with the relatives of three people who used the service by telephone.

We looked at three peoples care records, a selection of medication records, staff records which included their recruitment files and training records and other records relating to the management of the home such as maintenance records, meeting notes and audits. We looked around the home at a selection of people’s bedrooms, communal bath and shower rooms and the communal living rooms.

Updated 23 February 2016

The inspection took place on 25 November 2015 and was unannounced. There were 10 people living at the home at the time of the inspection.

Park View Road provides accommodation and personal care to a maximum of 10 people with learning disabilities. The service is located in a residential area of Bradford close to Lister Park.

The last inspection was carried out on 22 July 2014. At that time the service was given an overall rating of requires improvement. Improvements were required in the safe and well led domains although no breaches of regulation were identified. During this inspection we checked to see if the required improvements had been made. We found that improvements had been made, a registered manager had been appointed and new staff had been recruited which meant the service was able to reduce the number of agency staff used.

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.

However, we found there was a breach of regulation because people’s medicines were not always managed safely.

People told us they felt the service was safe. Staff were trained to recognise and report abuse and knew what to do if they had any concerns about people’s safety and welfare. The registered manager was familiar with the correct safeguarding procedures and reported any concerns or incidents to the relevant agencies.

There were enough staff deployed. Changes had been made to the shift patterns which meant there were more staff available at busy times. The required checks were carried out before new staff started work and this helped to protect people from being cared for and supported by staff who were not suitable to work in a care setting. New staff completed induction training and there was an on-going programme of staff training and development to help make sure people were supported by a team of well trained and competent staff.

The home was clean and safe but was in need of refurbishment. This had already been addressed by the provider and at the time of the inspection they were ready to consult with people who used the service about their preferred colour schemes.

The home was working in line with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) which meant people’s rights were protected.

People were supported to have a varied and nutritious diet and people were complimentary about the chef and the quality of the food.

People’s needs were assessed and each person had an individualised support plan. This helped to make sure the care and support provided was in line with their needs and preferences. The provider was reviewing the paperwork at the time of the inspection with a view to making the information in care/support records easier to use. People were supported to access the full range of NHS services.

People’s privacy and dignity was respected and they were supported to develop and maintain relationships with family and friends. People had access to advocacy services and were supported to make decisions about their day to day lives.

Some people who used the service presented behaviour which challenged. We found the service had introduced a new model of care, Positive Behaviour Support. Positive Behaviour Support is supported by BILD (British Institute of Learning Disabilities) as the preferred approach when working with people with learning disabilities who exhibit behaviours described as challenging. It’s focus in on the use of least restrictive practices and person centred care.

People were supported to take part in leisure and social activities of their choice both within the home and in the community. In the past year the home had created a sensory garden which was accessible to people living in the home and made the most of the limited outdoor space available.

There was a complaints procedure and people told us they were comfortable raising any concerns and confident they would be listened to. The service used information from complaints to make improvements to the service.

The atmosphere in the home was calm. People who used the service and staff were comfortable with each other and we saw a lot of positive interactions in the course of the day. We saw examples of how people who lived at the home were involved in decisions about how the service was run. For example, there were regular meetings to plan activities and people were involved in the selection of new staff.

The management team were enthusiastic and open and staff told us they were well supported and enjoyed working at the home.

The provider had systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of the services provided. The service had a continuous improvement plan which was updated every month.

We found one breach of regulation which related to how the service managed people’s medicines. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.