Archived: Lee Gordon House

Updated 10 August 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 visit took place on 13 July 2016 and was carried out by one inspector. The inspection was announced 48 hours before we visited to establish if people living at the service would be available to talk with us and discuss how they may respond to our presence at the home. This allowed the provider time to prepare people for our visit and offer reassurance to reduce any potential anxiety.

Most people at Lee Gordon House had limited verbal communication and were unable to tell us in any detail about the service they received. We therefore spent time talking with staff and observing how they interacted with people. We also spoke with relatives to get their views on the care given to their family members.

We spoke with the registered manager, three members of support care staff, three relatives and a healthcare professional. We looked at the care records of two people who used the service and two staff records. We also reviewed quality monitoring records, staff duty rotas, menus, customer feedback surveys and activity records.

We reviewed information we held about the service, for example, statutory notifications the provider sent to inform us of events which affected the service. A statutory notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send to us by law.

We did not ask the provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) on this occasion. The PIR 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. However we discussed this with the manager during our inspection to give them the opportunity to put forward their views.

Updated 10 August 2016

This inspection was carried out on 13 July 2016. The inspection was announced 48 hours before we visited. This was to establish if people living at the service would be available to talk with us and to discuss if our presence may cause anxiety to people and allow the provider time to reassure them.

At our last comprehensive inspection of this service 6 May 2014, we found the provider had not met all of their legal requirements and were in breach of the regulations. This was because the provider did not always have appropriate arrangements in place to manage medicines. After this inspection, the provider wrote to us to say what they would do to meet their legal requirements in relation to the breach. We carried out an inspection in August 2014 to check that they had followed their plan and found they met legal requirements.

The home had an established registered manager. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. We refer to them as the manager throughout this report.

Lee Gordon House provides accommodation with personal care for up to six people with learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder. It does not provide nursing care. At the time of our visit six people were living at the home.

Lee Gordon House is a large detached home in a residential area in Burton Green. All the bedrooms and communal areas are located on the ground floor. There is a large sitting room with a dining area. The sitting room is designed so it provides a space where people can sit and watch television and another area where people can sit and enjoy other activities. There is a large kitchen and a separate laundry room.

We found staff were not always available at the times people needed them to support people safely and at the times they preferred. The registered manager was addressing this and staff hours were being increased to provide greater supervision and support for people. Recruitment procedures made sure staff were of a suitable character to care for people safely at the home.

Relatives told us they felt people were safe at Lee Gordon House. The manager and staff understood how to protect people they supported from abuse, and knew what procedures to follow to report any concerns. Staff had a good understanding of risks associated with people’s care needs and how to support them.

Medicines were stored and administered safely, and people mostly received their medicines as prescribed. Audits were carried out of medicines to ensure they were managed in line with good practice guidelines, however, records of administration were not consistently maintained. People were supported to attend health care appointments when they needed to maintain their health and wellbeing.

Staff were kind and supportive to people’s needs and people’s privacy and dignity was respected. People were encouraged to be independent as much as possible in assisting with tasks around the home and shopping. People received a nutritious diet, had a choice of food, and were encouraged to have enough to drink.

The management and staff teams understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), and supported people in line with these principles. People were supported to make everyday decisions themselves, which helped them to maintain their independence. Where people were not able to make decisions, relatives and healthcare professionals were consulted for their advice and input.

People were supported to pursue their hobbies and interests both within and outside the home. Activities were arranged according to people’s individual preferences, needs and abilities and staff were keen to explore a variety of new activities for people. People who lived at Lee Gordon House were encouraged to maintain links with friends and family who visited them at the home.

Relatives knew how to make a formal complaint and were able to discuss any concerns they had with staff and the manager. Staff supported people living at the home when they identified they were unhappy about something. The provider obtained the views of relatives by way of meetings and customer surveys. Relatives were kept updated about changes to the service by the manager.

Staff felt the management team were supportive and promoted an open culture within the home.

Staff were able to discuss their own development and best practice in supervision sessions and during regular team meetings. A programme of training and induction provided staff with the skills and knowledge to meet people’s needs.

The manager felt well supported by the provider’s area manager who visited regularly and their views and ideas were encouraged on how to improve the service.

The provider carried out regular audits to check the quality of care people received. Audits by the registered manager and senior member of care staff were conducted regularly to continually monitor and improve the quality of the service.