Updated 12 April 2019
The inspection:
• We carried out our inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. Our inspection checked whether the provider was 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.
Inspection team:
• Our inspection was completed by one inspector and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. Their area of expertise was as a family carer of older people and people with dementia.
Service and service type:
• This service provides care and support to people living in one ‘extra care’ setting, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.
• The service is required to have a 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 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. At the time of our inspection two managers were registered with us. One of the registered managers was on planned long-term leave and the other recently transferred to another scheme in the organisation. A registered manager was not in post. The previous registered manager left at the end of January 2019 and a new manager was in the process of registering with us.
Notice of inspection:
• Our inspection was announced.
• We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because staff were often out of the service or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.
What we did:
• Our inspection was informed by evidence we already held about the service. We also checked for feedback we received from members of the public, the local authority and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). We checked records held by Companies House and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
• We asked the service to complete a Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once a year to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.
• We spoke with four people who used the service and one relative.
• We spoke with the manager, the area manager, the regional manager and three care workers.
• We reviewed five people’s care records and medicines records, three staff personnel files, audits and other records about the management of the service.