Archived: Lancashire Regional Office

The office is based in Fleetwood with limited parking available at the front of the office. At the time of the inspection Lancashire Regional Office supported 45 people with care and support needs. In addition the service provides a ‘crisis’ service. This is a service funded by commissioners where an emergency support package is provided for a short space of time. An out of hours contact number is provided for use in the event of an emergency.

At the time of inspection there was no manager who was registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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 this inspection carried out in May 2016, we found there were systems in place to ensure people who used the service were protected from the risk of harm and abuse. Staff we spoke with were knowledgeable of the action to take if they had concerns in this area. They told us the registered provider encouraged concerns to be raised.

Staff were knowledgeable of peoples’ assessed needs and delivered care in accordance with these. Staff spoke respectfully of the people they supported. People who received care and support told us their dignity was upheld when they received care and support.

There were arrangements in place to ensure people received their medicines safely.

We found recruitment was taking place to ensure sufficient staff were employed and existing staff were able to carry out their defined roles. We have made a recommendation regarding the deployment of staff at the agency. Staffing was arranged to ensure people received care and support at the time they wanted, or as required if the person received crisis care. Sufficient recruitment checks were carried out prior to staff starting work with the agency.

Training was in place to ensure staff were enabled to give care that met peoples’ needs. However we noted staff had not had training in food hygiene and supervisions and appraisals were not consistently completed. We have made a recommendation regarding this.

There was a complaints policy in place, which was understood by staff and was available to people who used the service. People were encouraged to give feedback to staff, which was acted upon.

People told us they were happy with the care and support provided by Lancashire Regional Office. People described the help they received and commented, “It’s a fantastic service.” And, “I’m really happy with everything they do.”

Surveys and checks on the quality of the service provided were not consistently completed. The regional manager explained local checks and audits would recommence when the newly employed manager started work at the service. This was a breach of Regulation 17 (Good governance.)

You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of this report.