We undertook an announced inspection of Creative Support Hampton Crescent (extra care housing) on 15 March 2016. We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice of our visit to ensure that the registered manager of the service would be available.Creative Support is extra-care housing and provides personal care services to people in their own flats. At the time of our inspection 29 people were receiving a personal care service.
This was the first inspection under the new provider ‘Creative Support’.
The service had 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.
Staff and people told us they were able to speak to the registered manager if they had any concerns. The service supported staff with supervisions and annual appraisals.
The service was meeting the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act (2005). We asked staff on the day of the inspection there understanding of the Mental Capacity Act (2005), all the staff we spoke with said that they would always assume capacity first.
Medicines were administered to people by trained staff and people received their prescribed medication when they needed it.
The people we spoke with all said they felt safe in their flat whilst care and support was provided.
People had care plans in place which were individual to their own needs. These included risk assessments around support and also regular involvement from health professionals.
Records we looked at and through our discussions with staff we found staff received regular training and were knowledgeable about their roles and responsibilities. People were cared for by sufficient numbers of suitably trained staff. They had the skills, knowledge and experience required to support people with their care and support needs. Staff could describe the procedures in place to safeguard people from abuse and unnecessary harm. Recruitment practices were robust and thorough.
The people we spoke with told us they did not need support with meal times. Staff told us they supported people to healthcare appointments or asked the matron to attend the service if needed. Staff provided personal care as required to meet people’s needs.
There were effective and robust systems in place to monitor the quality of the service.
Creative Support had a complaints procedure in place. People who used the service and staff knew how to complain. Complaints and compliments were dealt with in accordance with the policy.
There was an accident and incident file in place. The accidents had been recorded and actioned by the registered manager.