14 January 2015 and 9 February 2015
During a routine inspection
This inspection took place on 14 January and 9 February 2015 and was unannounced. This meant the staff and provider did not know we would be visiting.
Tanglewood Mews provides care and accommodation for adults with a learning disability in residential and personal care to people living in the supported living settings. On the day of our inspection there were 18 people using the service, six people were in residential accommodation and 12 people were in supported living accommodation.
The home and supported living service had the same registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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.
Tanglewood Mews was last inspected by CQC on 15 August 2013 and was compliant.
There were sufficient numbers of staff on duty in order to meet the needs of people using the service. The provider had an effective recruitment and selection procedure in place and carried out relevant checks when they employed staff.
We saw evidence that thorough investigations had been carried out in response to safeguarding incidents or allegations.
Medicines were securely stored and staff medication assessments took place.
Staff training was up to date however staff did not receive regular supervisions and appraisals, which meant that staff were not properly supported to provide care to people who used the service.
We did not find evidence of consent to care and treatment for people in the residential accommodation as none of the care records we looked at contained signed consent forms.
The home and supported living accommodation was clean, spacious and suitable for the people who used the service.
CQC monitors the operation of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) which applies to care homes. The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) are part of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. They aim to make sure that people in care homes, hospitals and supported living are looked after in a way that does not inappropriately restrict their freedom. We discussed DoLS with the locality manager and looked at records. We found the provider was following the requirements in the DoLS.
We saw staff supporting and helping to maintain people’s independence. We saw staff treated people with dignity and respect and people were encouraged to care for themselves where possible.
We saw there was a full programme of activities in place for people who used the service.
People’s needs were regularly reviewed and we saw care plans were written in a person centred way.
We saw a copy of the provider’s complaints policy and saw that complaints were fully investigated.
The provider had a robust quality assurance system in place and gathered information about the quality of their service from a variety of sources.