All inspections: Village Farm - Care Quality Commission

Village Farm is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to six people whose needs are associated with learning disabilities and autism. At the time of our inspection there were six people living at the home.

Our announced inspection of the service was undertaken on 19 and 20 September 2017.

The last inspection took place on 23 September 2015. The result of the inspection was that the service was rated ‘Good.’

The service was owned by a limited company. At the time of this inspection the home continued to be managed by an established registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC to manage the service. Like registered providers (‘the provider’), 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. In this report when we speak about the company, the registered person and the registered manager we sometimes refer to them as being, ‘The registered persons.’

The registered persons and staff continued to have a clear understanding of how to manage risks to keep people safe and protect them from avoidable harm.

The registered persons continued to have a range of recruitment processes and checks in place which ensured staff were recruited safely. Staff were supported to have an induction to their role and received training which enabled them to carry out their responsibilities in the right way. There were sufficient staff available to make sure people’s care needs were met in a consistent way.

When people were unable to make some decisions for themselves the registered provider had processes in place which ensured, when needed, they acted in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). CQC is required by law to monitor the operation of the Mental Capacity Act, 2005 Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and to report on what we find. DoLS are in place to protect people where they do not have capacity to make decisions and where it is considered necessary to restrict their freedom in some way, usually to protect themselves. Where appropriate the principles of The Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards had been applied.

The registered persons had continued to ensure there were clear arrangements to help support people to take their medicines when this was needed. The competency of staff to safely administer medications had been maintained and was regularly assessed and reviewed.

Staff were caring and positive working relationships between staff and people who used the service and their relatives had been sustained. People’s privacy and dignity was maintained and the registered persons continued to work closely with a range of external health professional to ensure people’s on-going health needs were met. Confidential information was kept private.

People and their relatives understood how to raise any complaints or issues they had and were confident that if they raised any concerns the right actions would be taken to respond to and resolve them.

The registered persons continued to provide an open and inclusive culture within the service. People and their relatives had the opportunity share their views and opinions and were involved in planning and reviewing their care.

People and their families continued to be consulted about how best to develop the service and good team work was promoted by the registered persons. The registered persons maintained and were further developing their range of quality checks and audits to monitor the service in order to keep identifying and making improvements to the overall services they provided.

Village Farm is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to six people whose needs are associated with learning disabilities and autism. At the time of our inspection there were five people living at the home and one person was in the process of moving to live there.

There was a registered manager in post who was in charge of running the home. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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.

The registered manager and staff had established and maintained positive working relationships with people who used the service and their relatives. People were treated as individuals and they and their relatives were involved in making decisions about how they wanted to be supported. This approach ensured people’s privacy and dignity was respected and maintained at all times.

People and their relatives had the opportunity share their views and opinions about the services provided. They and were also involved in planning and reviewing their care.

People and their relatives knew how to raise any concerns they may have and were confident these would be addressed quickly. There were systems in place for handling and resolving more formal complaints.

When people were unable to make some decisions for themselves the registered provider had processes in place which ensured, when needed, they acted in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). CQC is required by law to monitor the operation of the Mental Capacity Act, 2005 Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and to report on what we find. DoLS are in place to protect people where they do not have capacity to make decisions and where it is considered necessary to restrict their freedom in some way, usually to protect themselves. At the time of our inspection one person who lived at the service had their freedom restricted and the registered provider had acted in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA).

The provider had systems and checks in place which ensured staff were recruited safely. Staff were supported and received training which enabled them to carry out their roles in the right way. There were sufficient staff available who were deployed in a way which ensured people’s care needs were met consistently.

Staff understood how to manage risks and protect people from avoidable harm. Staff also knew how to report any concerns they identified quickly in order to make sure these could be acted upon so people were safe from any harm.

The provider ensured there were clear arrangements in place, which were regularly reviewed in order to help support people to take their medicines. Staff’s competency to safely administer medications was regularly checked and reviewed.

The service was run in an open and inclusive way which encouraged staff to speak out if they had any concerns. The provider and registered manager had quality monitoring systems in place which enabled them to regularly check and maintain the quality of the services provided for people.

We used a number of different ways to help us understand the experiences of people who were available at the time of our inspection visit. This was because some people had complex needs which meant they were not able to tell us about their experiences of care and support, and some people did not choose to speak with us.

Before we undertook our visit we reviewed all of the information we had about the service. During our visit we observed the support given by staff, looked at records and spoke with the registered manager.

Throughout our visit we observed people were supported in a respectful and dignified way, and staff were responsive to each person's way of communicating their needs, wishes and choices.

Staff had been given training and support that helped them to understand peoples' complex needs. Staff told us this helped them feel confident in carrying out their roles.

We saw systems for staff recruitment were safe and the proper checks were carried out in advance before any new staff member started to work at the home.

Overall we found the service was well led and the manager had set staff rotas and provided training and supervision in a way that supported staff to enable them to carry out their work safely.

We also found there was an effective system in place for the home owner to monitor and assess the quality of services within the home.

We observed that care staff were attentive to people's needs and their interaction with people was friendly, respectful and professional.

We saw members of staff were effectively supported by the manager to deliver a high standard of care.

The home was kept clean. People were encouraged to act independently by helping to keep their rooms tidy and assisting with the preparation of meals.

People enjoyed a wide variety of daily activities ranging from visits to the library to sessions at a local hotel swimming pool and spa.

We saw the home sought the opinion and comments of the people who used the servivce and their relatives. One relative responded to a satisfaction questionnaire by commenting, 'I feel blessed that XXX lives at Village Farm. She is happy, comfortable, safe, stimulated and listened to.'

Archived: Village Farm

All Inspections

19 September 2017

During a routine inspection

28 September 2015

During a routine inspection

15 October 2013

During a routine inspection

2 October 2012

During a routine inspection