Lloyd Court provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is rented from a housing association, and is the occupant’s own home. There were 40 self-contained flats on the site. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service. At the time of this announced comprehensive inspection of 30 May 2018 there were 38 people living at the service. The provider was given 24 hours’ notice because we wanted to be certain the registered manager and key staff would be available on the day of our inspection. We also wanted to give them sufficient time to seek agreements with people so that we could visit them in their homes to find out their experience of the service.
At our last inspection on 30 September 2015, we rated the service good overall, with outstanding for the caring domain.
The service had a registered manager in post. 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.
At this inspection on 30 May 2018, the evidence collected supported a continued rating of outstanding for the caring domain, and good overall.
We received high and consistent praise in relation to this service. People and their relatives were positive and enthusiastic about the quality of the service provided. We found that people were supported to have maximum choice and control over their lives and staff worked with them in the least restrictive ways possible; with the policies and systems in place to support this practice.
Staff treated people with care and compassion, and took pride in their caring roles. Staff understood how to identify and report safeguarding concerns to keep people safe. Staff approach and people’s records demonstrated adherence to the principles of the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.
People accessed a variety of meaningful activities arranged within Lloyd Court to reduce social isolation and spent time with relatives, friends and accessing the local community.
People and their relatives knew how to make a complaint, and were encouraged to give feedback to the management team, however there had been no formal complaints in the last three years. The service provided high standards of care to people who required support with complex health needs and those approaching the end of their life.
Lloyd Court had excellent governance systems in place which enabled the service to continuously learn, improve and sustain high quality person-centred care. We received high praise from the local GP practice in relation to the collaborative approach taken by Lloyd Court staff when working with their team to ensure positive outcomes for people living at the service.