The Waverley

Updated 15 June 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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector. We visited the office location on the first and second day to see the registered manager and service manager and to review care records and policies and procedures. On the second day the inspector carried out general observations and checked care records during three visits to people in their homes. The people we visited had given their permission for this to happen.

Service and service type:

Faulkner House is a domiciliary care service. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to older people and younger adults some of whom have a physical disability, sensory impairment or dementia.

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 visit so that we could be sure the office manager was available when we visited and that consent could be sought from people to receive home visits from the inspector.

Inspection site visit activity started on 20 May 2019 and ended on 21 May 2019. We visited the office location on both days to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures. On day two of the inspection we visited people in their homes with their consent.

What we did:

Before the inspection we reviewed all the information we held about the service. This included notifications the service had sent us. A notification is the means by which providers tell us important information that affects the running of the service and the care people receive.

We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. This is 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.

During the inspection we visited three people in their own homes and discussed the delivery of care. We met with the registered manager, service manager, care team leader and two care staff. Following the site visit we had telephone conversations with two care staff, three relatives and two healthcare professionals.

We reviewed three people's care files, policies, risk assessments, complaints, quality audits and the 2018 quality survey results. We looked at four staff files, the recruitment process, staff meeting notes, training, statutory notifications and accident and incident logs.

Updated 15 June 2019

About the service:

Faulkner House provides domiciliary support services to people in their own homes. It provides a service to older people and younger adults some of whom have a physical disability, sensory impairment or dementia. At the time of our inspection there were eight people receiving a regulated activity of personal care.

People’s experience of using this service:

People were protected by staff who had knowledge of the signs and symptoms that could indicate a person was being harmed or abused. Staff understood how to raise safeguarding concerns both internal and external to the service. People told us that staff made them feel safe.

Staff worked with people, where appropriate their relatives, and healthcare professionals to manage and reduce the risks they faced in their day to day lives.

People were supported by a consistent group of staff who knew them well and had been trained to meet their needs. Training included mandatory courses and on-going support to ensure staff had the necessary skills to support people competently.

Staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and demonstrated this when supporting people. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People’s desired outcomes were identified and plans created to achieve them. People received person centred care which understood, respected and met their current and emerging care needs. Regular reviews were held with involvement from people, their legal representatives or people important to them, familiar staff and relevant health and social care professionals.

People were supported to access health care services, such as district nurses, in a timely way when required and to attend appointments in order to maintain their health and wellbeing. Care visit times were amended to accommodate this.

People’s and staff member’s views were sought in meetings, reviews and annual surveys. People fedback they felt listened to and spoke positively about the care they received. People told us they knew how to complain should they need to and were confident that action would be taken to resolve any identified issues. Staff told us they felt supported, that the team worked well together and that their learning needs were explored.

The management conducted audits to help ensure the quality and safety of care people received was maintained and improved. There was a positive, open and encouraging culture at the service.

Rating at the last inspection:

At our last inspection we rated the home Good (published 26/11/2016).

Why we inspected:

This inspection was a scheduled inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk