Treetops

Updated 5 June 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

Two inspectors and a specialist advisor carried out this inspection. The specialist advisor had experience of providing support for people with complex needs.

Service and service type:

Treetops is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and personal care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection:

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did:

We used information we held about the home which included notifications that they sent us to plan this inspection. We also used the completed Provider Information Return (PIR). This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. This information had been sent to us in 2017 and we gave the provider the opportunity to provide us with relevant updated information during our inspection.

We used a range of different methods to help us understand people’s experiences. We spoke with eight people about the support they received. We had discussions with four staff members, two deputy managers and the operations manager. We reviewed care plans for three people to check they were accurate and up to date. We also looked at medicines administration records and reviewed systems the provider had in place to ensure the quality of the service was continuously monitored and reviewed to drive improvement. These included accidents and incidents analysis, meetings minutes and quality audits.

Updated 5 June 2019

About the service: Treetops is a residential care home that provides personal care and support for up to 28 people. The service is located on the outskirts of the village of Ridings, near Alfreton.

Treetops was registered before the publication of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen. However, we found that the service met these values.

People’s experience of using this service:

People were protected from harm as staff had a good understanding of what constituted abuse and knew what actions to take to keep people safe. There were processes to minimise risks to people’s safety. These included procedures to manage identified risks with people’s care and for checking staff were suitable to work with people who used the service. People received their medicines when needed and there were suitable arrangements in place in relation to the safe administration, recording and storage of medicines. There were sufficient, suitably recruited staff to meet people’s needs. We saw that concerns were taken seriously and investigated thoroughly to ensure lessons were learnt.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice. Staff respected people’s decisions and gained people’s consent before they provided any care. Where any restrictions were identified, applications had been made to ensure this was lawful. Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to work with people.

People felt staff and registered manager were caring and treated them with respect and dignity. Staff understood the importance of treating people with kindness and compassion. People enjoyed spending time with others and staff, and participating in events and social activities.

People participated in activities that interested them. Care records were personalised and contained relevant information for staff to help them provide the care people required. Information about making a complaint was available for people and they knew how to complain if they needed to. People were provided with a choice of what to eat and drink. Where changes in people’s health were identified, they were referred to healthcare professionals to support people’s wellbeing. People were able to express their views about their future care.

Quality assurance monitoring systems were carried out; where improvements were identified, actions were recorded to ensure improvements could be made. The staff listened to the views of people using the service and their relatives to make improvements in areas such as the environment and activities.

Rating at last inspection: Good (last report published May 2017).

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk