Archived: The Poppies

At the last inspection in March 2016 the services was rated Good. At this inspection we found the service remained Good. The evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and on-going monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

There was a registered manager in place at the time of our inspection. 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.

People continued to be supported to stay as safe as possible. Staff took people’s safety needs into account and responded to their individual safety needs, whilst promoting their independence. There were sufficient staff to care for people, spend time chatting with them and meet their needs.

Systems were in place to promote the safe administration of people’s medicines, and to reduce the likelihood of errors occurring. People benefited from living in a home where checks were made on the safety of the home and the support provided. Learning was taken from any untoward incidents.

People’s care preferences and needs were assessed before they came to live at the home. The views of other health and social care professionals were considered when staff assessed if they would be able to meet people’s needs.

Staff had taken opportunities offered to develop their skills and knowledge further, and people were complimentary about the way they were cared for. We saw staff used their skills and knowledge of people’ individual preferences when caring for them.

People told us they decided what they wanted to eat and drink and enjoyed their meal time experiences. Where people needed some support and encouragement to have enough to eat and drink staff assisted them. People benefited from living in a home where staff had developed positive relationships with health care professionals. This helped people to get the specialist help they needed promptly.

People are supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff support them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice.

Strong bonds of friendship had grown between people and the staff who cared for them, and people told us they were treated very kindly by staff. This was evidenced in the respectful way staff supported people and took their rights to dignity and privacy into account. Staff supported people in ways which maximised their independence.

People, their relatives and other health and social care professional’s views were the focus when staff planned people’s care with them. This helped to ensure people were offered care which reflected their unique needs and levels of independence. Staff adapted how they supported people, so people were in the best position to make their own decisions about what care they wanted.

There were systems in place to support people to raise any concerns they had or to make a complaint. Everyone we spoke with told us they had not wanted to make any complaints because the care provided was good.

The registered manager spent time supporting and chatting with people, so they could be assured people were receiving good quality care. People were positive about how the home was run and told us this meant they liked living at the home. Relatives were complimentary about how the home was managed.

We saw effective way of working had been established with other organisation so people would continue to benefit from receiving the care they needed. Staff told us they were supported well, and were confident if they raised any concerns or made any suggestions to develop care further the registered manager would take action.

Checks were made by the provider and registered manager so they could be sure people received good care.

The home is registered to provide accommodation and personal care for a maximum of 12 people. There were 8 people living at the home on the day of the inspection. There was a registered manager in place. 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.

People were safe and well cared for. Staff were able to demonstrate they had sufficient knowledge and skills to carry out their roles effectively and to ensure people who used the service were safely supported.

People were cared for by staff who had a good understanding of of protecting people from the risk of abuse and harm. Staff knew their responsibility to report any concerns and were confident that action would be taken.

People needs were met promptly. Both people living at the home and staff said that there were sufficient staff numbers to meet people’s needs and we saw staff responding to people in a timely way.

People’s rights and freedoms were respected by staff. Staff understood people’s individual care needs and had received training so they would be able to care for people in the best way for them. There were good links with health and social care professionals and staff sought and acted upon advice received, so people’s needs were met.

People were supported to have drinks and snacks throughout the day. People enjoyed the food they received and were positive about the choice of food given.

People were positive in their feedback about the service and confirmed they attended residents meetings and completed questionnaires to give feedback on the care provided. People told us their privacy and dignity was maintained by staff and we made observations that supported this.

The registered manager was accessible and approachable and completed regular checks to monitor the quality of care and take action where identified.

When we carried out this inspection six people were using the service. We spoke with the registered manager, the care manager, a member of the care staff, the activities coordinator and the cook. We also spoke with two directors of the company. We spoke with five people who were using the service during our inspection. Comments made by people who used the service included: 'I like it a lot here' and 'I can't grumble about the care provided here'.

We observed how staff interacted with people. We saw that staff spoke with people in a respectful manner. From our observations we saw that people were provided with care that met their individual needs. Staff generally knew about the needs of the people they were caring for. We looked at care records and found that these were not always in place or did not always contain sufficient guidance for staff on how to meet people's needs.

People told us that they felt safe living at the home and knew who to speak to if they had any concerns.

We saw that although staff were supported on a day to day basis supervision was not taking place. Some parts of staff training had not been refreshed recently.

We saw that improvements needed to be made to ensure that regular monitoring of the quality of the service was taking place. This would reduce the risk of inappropriate care taking place.