Archived: 68 Stirling Road

Updated 13 December 2016

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 10 November 2016 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the service was a small respite service for younger adults who are often out during the day; we needed to be sure that someone would be in. The inspection was undertaken by one inspector.

Whilst planning our inspection we looked at the information we held about the service. This included the previous inspection report, notification received from the provider about deaths, accidents/incidents and safeguarding alerts. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law.

During our inspection we spoke with three people that were using the service, the registered manager, the deputy manager and a support staff. We looked at one person’s care records to check they received the support as planned. We looked at the medicine management processes, records maintained by the provider about the quality and safety of the service. We contacted the mental health trust who purchased the care on behalf of people and health care professionals involved in supporting people, to see if they had any comments about the service.

Updated 13 December 2016

This was an unannounced inspection, which took place on 10 November 2016. We did a previous rating inspection of this service on 17 December 2015; the service was rated as required improvement overall, with no breaches of legal requirements.

68 Stirling Road provides accommodation and respite care for up to five adults with mental health conditions. People using the service continue to be supported by community mental health teams. People using the service were usually independent with their daily living, but required support with their mental well-being at times. There were five people using the service at the time of our inspection.

There was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People were happy with the service they received and were asked about their opinion of the service. However, systems for monitoring the overall quality of the service were not consistently applied. For example we saw that infection control procedures were not in line with recommended guidance and audits did not always identify where improvements were needed.

People were protected from harm because procedures were in place to reduce the risk of harm to people and staff knew how to support people to keep safe. People were involved in deciding how risks to them were managed and felt they received a safe service.

People were supported by sufficient numbers of staff that were appropriately recruited and supported to provide care and support to people. This is because the provider had appropriate systems in place to recruit suitable staff. People felt that there were sufficient staff to meet their needs and the registered manager and deputy manager were available to support the staff team.

People received their medicines as prescribed and systems were in place to manage people’s medicines. Procedures were in place for foreseeable emergencies and staff knew the procedures. The provider was in the process of moving the service to more suitable accommodation to ensure a more appropriate environment for people.

People had control over what they ate and drank, with support from staff if necessary. This is because people retained control over their daily living activities. People had access to mental health professionals and were supported to maintain their physical heath.

People’s privacy and dignity was respected and people felt all staff were respectful and courteous to them. People were free to pursue their individual social and daily living activities, with family and friends as they wished.

People knew how to raise concerns if they needed to and systems were in place to investigate and respond to any concerns raised. People felt they could talk with any staff member about their concerns and they would be addressed. Information on giving feedback or raising concerns was on display in the hallway of the home and people knew they could use these to raise their concerns if they wished. People said they felt listened to and were confident in the way staff treated them.