Archived: Kathleen House Flat

Updated 10 April 2019

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.

Inspection team:

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Kathleen House Flat is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. 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

This was an unannounced inspection.

What we did:

Prior to the inspection we reviewed information we held about the service since their last inspection. This included notifications received from the provider about deaths, accidents/incidents and safeguarding alerts which they are required to send us by law. We also contacted the local authority who commissioned services from this provider.

During the inspection we spoke with two relatives to share their views about the support their family members received. We spoke with two staff members and the registered manager who was available throughout the inspection.

We looked at the care and review records for two people who used the service and two staff files. We looked at recruitment and training. We looked at records for how people were administered medicines as well as a range of records relating to the running of the service. This included incident and accident monitoring, auditing systems and complaints.

Updated 10 April 2019

About the service:

• Kathleen House Flat is a residential care home that was providing personal to two people with a range of needs including learning disabilities and challenging behaviour at the time of the inspection.

• The care service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

People’s experience of using this service:

• The provider was not working within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards when service users lacked capacity to make specific decisions. The provider’s governance and oversight systems had failed to identify this and meant service users rights were not always upheld and protected.

• The provider’s systems, processes and records in place for decisions taken in relation to care and treatment of people were not always effective.

• The registered manager understood their legal requirements within the law to notify us of all incidents of concern, deaths and safeguarding alerts. The registered manager was open and honest.

• People were safe and staff knew how to keep them safe from harm. The provider had a recruitment process to ensure they had enough staff to support people safely. People received their medicines as prescribed. Staff followed infection control guidance and had access to personal protective equipment.

• People’s nutritional needs were met and they received enough to eat and drink to ensure they had a healthy diet. People accessed health care when needed.

• People received care from staff who were kind and caring and knew them well. Staff were patient and empathetic and had built good relationships with people. People's privacy, dignity and independence were respected by staff.

• People continued to receive care that met their needs. People's support needs were assessed regularly and planned to ensure they received the assistance they needed. People's support was individualised. People were supported to take part in activities of interest and their preferences, likes and dislikes were known to staff. The provider had a complaints process to share any concerns.

Rating at last inspection:

• Rated Good overall (report published 21/05/2016)

Why we inspected:

• This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up:

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