Norwich Road

Updated 4 May 2018

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.

One inspector carried out this announced inspection that was started on 29 January 2018, with a second visit on 31 January 2018. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection site visit because some of the people using it could not consent to a home visit from an inspector, which meant that we had to enable the service time to arrange for a ‘best interests’ decision about us visiting people.

Before our inspection, we looked at information we held about the service including notifications they had made to us about important events. We also reviewed all other information sent to us from other stakeholders for example the local authority and members of the public. We observed care and support being delivered in communal areas and we observed how staff supported people when we visited them in their own homes.

We looked at records in relation to six people’s care and spoke with five people who used the service and three people’s relatives. We also spoke with the registered manager, the head of strategy and operations and the operations manager. We also spoke with two team leaders and three care staff. We looked at records relating to the management of the service, four staff recruitment records, training, and systems for monitoring the quality of the service.

Updated 4 May 2018

Norwich Road provides care and support to people living in a supported living setting, so that they can live in their own home as independently as possible. People’s care and housing is provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

This announced inspection that was started on 29 January 2018, with a second visit on 31 January 2018. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection site visit because some of the people using it could not consent to a home visit from an inspector, which meant that we had to enable the service time to arrange for a ‘best interests’ decision about us visiting people.

On the day of our inspection, there were six people who had a learning disability using this service. They were all living within the same housing complex, in separate flats within this location based in Ipswich.

The service 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.

The service was outstandingly well led; the registered manager was very organised and knowledgeable about the people being supported and was very well supported by the providers of the service. People, their relatives and the staff told us that the registered manager was open, supportive and had good management skills. Staff told us that they recognised the hard work the registered manager had put into the service to improve the service offered to people. There were robust systems in place to monitor the quality of service the providers offered people.

We saw outstanding examples of positive and caring interaction between the staff and people supported by the service, people were treated with kindness and respect. People were able to express their views and staff listened to what they said, respected their views and took action to ensure their decisions were acted on. Staff protected people’s privacy and dignity.

People and their relatives told us that they were confident they were safe in this outstanding service. People were protected from bullying, harassment, avoidable harm and abuse by staff that were trained to recognise abusive situations and knew how to report any incidents they witnessed or suspected. Staff clearly understood their responsibilities to raise concerns and there were arrangements in place for reviewing and investigating incidents when things went wrong. Staff told us they would not hesitate to report any suspicions they had about people being abused.

Staff had been safely recruited which helped protect people from harm.

Risks were assessed and steps had been put in place to safeguard people from harm without restricting their independence unnecessarily. Risks to individual people had been identified and action had been taken to protect them from harm.

Staffing levels were high and sufficient to keep people safe and people were supported to manage their medicines in a way that ensured that they received them safely and at the right time. There were also appropriate infection control practices in place to help protect the people the service supported and the staff from the risks involved around contagious diseases.

People’s needs assessments were detailed and they received effective care in line with current legislation from staff who had the knowledge, qualifications, skills and experience they needed to carry out their roles.

The management and staff were a strong team and worked well together to ensure that people received consistent person centred care when they used or were supported by different services. People were invariably asked for their consent by staff before they supported them in line with legislation and guidance.

Caring and supportive staff offered advice to people to help them make healthy decisions around food and supported them to eat and drink enough to maintain a balanced diet. People were also supported to maintain good health and gain access to healthcare services when they were needed.

People received care that was personalised to them and responsive to their needs. Although people told us that they rarely needed to complain, we saw that the service listened to people’s experiences, concerns and complaints. They took immediate action to investigate their complaints, learn by their mistakes and make any changes needed to avoid them happening again.