Archived: Housing & Care 21 - Lincoln Gardens

Updated 23 May 2017

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 was 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 2 May 2017. We carried out the inspection unannounced because we were following up on concerns we found at the last inspection.

The inspection team consisted of one inspector.

Before the inspection, we reviewed information that we held about the service. This included notifications the provider is required to send us by law about incidents and events that had occurred at the service.

We visited and spoke with two people in their flats. We spoke with one relative, three members of staff, one agency staff, the registered manager, the interim manager and the administrator. We viewed three records about people's care and support, this included records that showed how medicines were managed. We also viewed records that showed how the service was managed such as risk assessments and daily records of care and support given. We looked at training records and quality assurance information.

Updated 23 May 2017

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 26 January 2017 and three breaches of legal requirements were found. After the inspection, the provider wrote to us to say what they would do to meet the legal requirements in relation to Regulation 12, safe care and treatment, Regulation 18 Staffing and Regulation 17, Good governance. We took enforcement action following that inspection and served a warning notice on the provider in respect of Regulation 17, Good governance requiring them to become compliant with this regulation by April 17 2017. We also asked the provider for an action plan to show how they were going to address the breaches found.

We undertook an unannounced focussed inspection on 2 May 2017 to check that improvements required had been made following the enforcement action we had taken. We found that action had been taken to improve safety. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link Housing & care 21 Lincoln Gardens on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

People were supported with their personal care needs to enable them to live in their own homes and promote their independence. Personal care was provided in an extra care housing setting, which meant accommodation was provided under a separate private tenancy agreement to people who used the service. The office was based within the same building where people had their own independent flats. People who used the service also had access to communal lounges. At the time of the inspection the service supported 36 people in their own flats.

At our previous visit the registered manager was receiving training, support and guidance at one of the providers other location and was not in day to day charge of the service. A registered manager from a different service run by Housing and Care 21 was overseeing the management of Lincoln Gardens.

At this visit the registered manager had returned to the service. 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.

Improvements had been made to the systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of the service. Systems to mitigate risks to people had been fully implemented at the time of the inspection.

Further improvements had been made to ensure that people's care records contained an accurate account of their needs. There were care plans in place where required to ensure people specific health condition was well managed.

Care plans were person centred and were audited by the service to ensure accurate information was provided to care workers.

People's risks were planned and managed in a way to protect people from the risk of inappropriate and inconsistent care. Improvements had been made to ensure that the risks associated with people's conditions were identified and staff were given guidance to minimise them.

Improvements had been made to the management of medicines, which ensured people received their medicines as prescribed. All care workers had received up to date training and competency observations to ensure that medicines were managed safely at all times. Improvements had been made in how audits of medicines records were completed.

Training records were up to date. Staff member’s personnel records and comments from care workers identified that all staff were provided with training to meet people's needs effectively.

Staff were provided with regular one to one supervision meetings and spot checks of their work to ensure that they were working in an effective way.

The provider had implemented an improvement plan to make changes to the way people received their care. The registered manager was working through the actions and the provider was involved in the checking and monitoring of these actions.