Archived: West Road

We found in people's care records, mental capacity assessments were in place for two people, whose capacity to understand limited their ability to make important decisions. We found best interest meetings were established and involved professionals, advocates and relatives to ensure decisions were made appropriately.

We spoke with three staff who all informed us of how they would respond to a safeguarding concern. We noted they had all attended safeguarding training within the last year. One person we spoke with said: "I would speak to the manager if I was treated badly by anyone."

We looked at staff records and spoke with two staff about their induction process. This showed us the service carried out suitable checks to ensure staff were of good character and had sufficient skills, knowledge and experience to support the needs of the people who used the service.

We spoke with the manager and looked at quality audits carried out by the provider. We found the service listened to comments and complaints and had effective systems in place to monitor the quality of the service they provide.

The two people we spoke with told us that they liked living at the service as they were able to do things they liked to and the staff were very good in helping them. We saw them making choices of activities and food during the time we were there. They also told us about how the staff helped them to make a choice around participating in a dog training class. All four people who used the service accessed the community and chose individual activities away from the service with one to one support from a member of staff. One person asked to go bowling and on his return told us that they had a great time.

The two staff we spoke to said that they felt supported by the management and enjoyed supporting the people to develop their independence skills. One member of staff was new to the team and showed a good understanding of the needs and communication of the person we observed them assisting to prepare for the day.

The two care plans we looked at had been prepared by staff using information from the people who used the service. Each person's care plan showed how they wished to be supported and described their likes, dislikes and hopes. Risk assessments were in the care plan to enable people's chosen activities to take place in safety.