Belong Atherton Care Village

Updated 24 May 2018

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.

The inspection took place on 14 and 16 March 2018. The first day of the inspection was unannounced. The inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector, an assistant inspector from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and two Experts by Experience (ExE). An Expert by Experience is a person who has experience of using or caring for someone who uses health and/or social care services. An Inspection Manager from the CQC also attended on the first day to observe the inspection as part of CQC’s quality assurance procedures.

Before commencing the inspection we looked at any information we held about the service. This included any notifications that had been received, whistleblowing or safeguarding information sent to CQC and the local authority. We also spoke to the quality assurance team at Wigan Council.

Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During the course of the inspection we spoke to the general manager, registered manager, lead nurse, student nurse, catering manager, experience coordinator, gym instructor, four lead senior support workers, one senior and two support workers. We also spoke to 12 people who lived at the care village and 11 visiting relatives.

We looked around the care village and viewed a variety of documentation and records. This included; four staff files, 10 electronic care records, seven Medication Administration Record (MAR) charts across four households, policies and procedures and audit documentation.

Updated 24 May 2018

This inspection took place on 14 March 2018 and was unannounced. We made a further visit on 16 March 2018 which we announced so we could complete the inspection.

Belong Atherton Care Village is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. The care village is situated in Atherton, Greater Manchester and is registered to provide accommodation for up to 73 people who require personal care and support. At the time of this inspection 71 people were living at the care village.

The care village comprised of six separate households over three floors, these were named after local historical mills and coal mining pits. The households were called; Astley, Pretoria, Caleb Wright, Ena, Tyldesley and Chanters. Each household had 12 single occupancy bedrooms and each room had an en-suite bathroom. Central to each household was a kitchen, dining area and lounge. The care village had a bistro, internet café, library, craft room, beauty therapy room, gym, training rooms and the ‘Venue’ which hosted coffee mornings and doubled as a cinema room and events facility.

For the purpose of the report, the care village also has independent living apartments which do not form part of this inspection but are central to the care village and its design.

Belong Atherton Care Village was previously rated as requires improvement following our inspection on 19 December 2016 and 04 January 2017. Following the last inspection, the care village was rated as requires improvement in the key question of safe and well-led, as we identified a breach of the regulations of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. This was in relation to the management of risks. During this inspection we found the provider had addressed the previous regulatory breach and was meeting all the requirements of the regulations.

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.

People were at the heart of the service design and recruitment to ensure they received the right support from the right staff in an environment that was conducive to their well-being. People and their relatives told us they had been involved in the planning of their care through the assessment and life planning process and on-going reviews. Involvement of people who used the service was clearly embedded into everyday practice. There was a clear emphasis on people achieving their aspirations and staff were positive, motivated and focused on people’s successes to support their continued progression.

Staff were creative and adapted their support in response to people’s changing needs to mitigate risks. The staff had achieved outstanding results based on people’s goals and aspirations. People themselves told us that they had not believed their achievements had been attainable spoke highly of the support received, attributing their progress, enhanced sense of wellbeing and quality of life to the facilities and support received.

We saw people were supported to fulfil their dreams and people’s achievements were celebrated and their views were sought and acted on. People were supported by staff that were compassionate and treated them with dignity and respect. People were empowered to make a difference and to demonstrate what dignity meant to them and educate other’s on their experiences.

The service’s ethos, vision and values promoted people’s rights to make choices and live fulfilled and valued lives. There was a strong emphasis on people pursuing full, active lives engaged with their local communities. There was active participation in the local community and strong links with local schools to optimise outcomes for older people and young children. There was a bistro on site which was open to the general public and people at the care village could access the bistro for meals or request meals from the menu were brought to their household.

The open, inclusive and supportive nature of the service meant that promoting equality and diversity and respecting people’s human rights was a golden thread that ran through every aspect of the service.

We saw staff received comprehensive training which provided them with exceptional knowledge and skills. Training was developed and facilitated in line with developments in best practice. There was a culture of learning from incidents and disseminating that learning across the other Belong villages in the organisation. The care village was open to others and the management shared the facilities and resources to achieve the best outcomes for people accessing services.

Staff told us they felt extremely well supported by management and received excellent support through training, regular supervision and team meetings. They spoke of being given opportunities to progress and felt they were supported to achieve their full potential.

Staff demonstrated an in-depth awareness of the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and associated Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLS).

The management and staff were clearly motivated to make a difference to people living at the care village and in the wider community. They had been instrumental in making changes to health care provision and were driven to make continued improvements to the accessibility of services.

The staffing structure in place made sure there were clear lines of accountability and responsibility. The vision and values were imaginative and person-centred and made sure people were at the heart of the service.