Archived: Farfield Drive

Updated 30 March 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 checked 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.

The inspection took place on the 3 February 2015 and was unannounced. The inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector.

Before the inspection, we reviewed the information we held about the service. This included any statutory notifications that had been sent to us and we contacted Healthwatch Leeds. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

We spoke with three support staff, the support team leader and the assistant service manager. The registered manager was not at the service on the day of our inspection. We spoke with three people who used the service. We looked at documentation relating to people who used the service, staff and the management of the service. We looked at four people’s care and support records, including the plans of their care. We also looked at the systems used to manage people’s medication, including the storage and records kept. We looked at the quality assurance systems to check if they were robust and identified areas for improvement.

We spent some time observing care in the lounge and dining room/kitchen areas to help us understand the experience of people who used the service. We looked at other areas of the service including some people’s bedrooms and communal bathroom and toilet.

Updated 30 March 2015

We inspected Farfield Drive on 3 February 2015 and the visit was unannounced. Our last inspection took place in July 2013 and at that time we found the service was meeting the regulations we looked at.

Farfield Drive is a respite service which supports people with learning disabilities in a specially designed building. The service offers an opportunity for people to have short breaks from their family and also gives family carers a break from their caring responsibilities. The home provides respite care for up to five people at a time. At the time of our inspection there were four people using the service.

At the time of this inspection 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.’

Not everyone who stayed at the service was able to communicate verbally therefore we observed how staff interacted with people over short periods of time throughout the day to ensure we caused only minimal disruption to their daily life. Three people who were able told us they enjoyed staying at the service and staff were friendly and supportive.

People we spoke with told us they felt safe at the home. One person said, “I feel very safe here, I like coming, I don’t want to go anywhere else.” People received their medication correctly and in a timely manner.

There were enough skilled and experienced staff. The staff had access to a range of training courses relevant to their roles and responsibilities and they were supported to carry out their roles effectively through a planned programme of training and supervision.

Procedures in relation to recruitment of staff were followed and all required information was obtained to help the employer make safe recruitment decisions.

People’s care plans and risk assessments were person centred and the staff we spoke with were able to tell us how individuals preferred their care and support to be delivered. Care plans and risk assessments were reviewed on a regular basis to make sure they provided accurate and up to date information and were fit for purpose.

People were provided with a choice of healthy food and drinks ensuring their nutritional needs were met. We observed the meal time and people told us they enjoyed the food. One person said, “The food here is good. I can choose what I want to eat.”

Staff received training in the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards and were able to demonstrate a good understanding of when Best Interest Decisions needed to be made to safeguard people.

People were encouraged to participate in a range of appropriate social, educational and leisure activities both within the service and the wider community and staff actively encouraged them to maintain and develop their daily living skills.

There was an effective quality assurance monitoring system in place which quickly identified any shortfalls in the service and there were systems in place for staff to learn from any accident, incidents or complaints received.