Updated 19 September 2019
The inspection
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
The inspection was carried out by one inspector
Service and service type
This service provides care and support to people living in four ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
What we did: Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service. This includes the statutory notifications sent to us by the registered manager about incidents and events that occurred at the service. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. We also contacted the local authority and the local Healthwatch to gain their views. Heathwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We assessed the information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection: We spoke with six members of staff including the registered manager, two assistant managers, and three care workers. We reviewed a range of records. This included seven people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We telephoned three relatives regarding their experience of the service.