Archived: Liam House

Updated 9 November 2015

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is 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.

This inspection took place on 16 and 22 September 2015 and was unannounced. One inspector visited the service on both days.

There were nine people living at Liam House at the time of the inspection and we spoke with five people to learn about their experience of living at the home. Some people did not verbally communicate so instead we listened to, and observed how staff interacted with these people. We spoke with two relatives who were complimentary about the care and support provided to their family member. We also spoke with a social care professional and five members of staff including the manager.

We looked at one person’s care and support records in full and sampled aspects of six other people’s care and support records. These included daily monitoring records, Medicine Administration Records (MAR) and care plans and risk assessments. We also looked at documents relating to the overall management of the home including staffing rotas, recruitment, training and supervision records, and audits and maintenance records.

Before our inspection, we reviewed the information we held about the service including the Provider Information Return (PIR), which the provider completed before the inspection. The PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We also looked at information about incidents the provider had notified us of, and information from the local authority.

Updated 9 November 2015

Liam House is a care home for 10 adults with a learning disability. At the time of the inspection there were nine people living at the home. The unannounced inspection took place over two days on 16 and 22 September 2015. One inspector visited the home on both days.

Liam House had 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.

In general, people were happy to be living at Liam House, although some people said they sometimes got a bit bored. One person we spoke with said, “I am happy here, it’s a good place” and a member of staff told us, “It’s a lovely house”. Another staff member said, “It’s nice to come here and support the residents”.

People told us they liked the care workers. They said they were kind and throughout the inspection we saw staff had a compassionate, kind and fun approach with the people they were supporting.

People told us they felt safe at Liam House and could talk to staff if they were worried about something. Staff had been trained in safeguarding adults and knew how to raise a concern.

People felt well supported by staff who knew what they were doing. Staff told us they were supported through training, supervision and appraisals to ensure they understood their role and knew how best to support or help people.

People told us they made their own day-to-day decisions. Staff confirmed they sought consent and promoted choice to make sure people could make their own decisions. Where people might lack capacity to make a specific decision staff acted in accordance with the 2005 Mental Capacity Act. This ensured people’s rights were protected.

People’s healthcare needs were met and staff supported people to see healthcare professionals when they needed to.

There was an activities programme in place. However, this was an area of improvement for the home to make sure people had greater opportunities to participate in a wider variety of activities, both within and outside of the home.

The home was well-led by a registered manager and deputy manager. People and staff felt listened to and said the manager acted on their suggestions to drive improvements. There were quality assurance systems in place to make sure the home offered a safe, effective, caring and responsive service.