24 October 2017
During a routine inspection
This was the first time the service had been inspected. This service provides care and support to three people living in a ‘supported living’ setting, so that they can live in their own home as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.
There was not a registered manager in place at the time of our inspection visit. 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. However, there was a manager of the service who had applied to become the registered manager. We refer to this person as the manager in the body of this report.
Staff understood their responsibilities to protect people from the risk of abuse, and other risks that related to their care and support. However, people’s care records did not always provide enough detail to ensure risks were managed safely and consistently by staff. Staff knew people well, and there was a consistent staff team in place to support people. The manager checked staff’s suitability for their role before they started working at the service. The manager made sure there were enough staff to support people safely.
Staff offered people everyday choices about what they did each day. All of the people who used the service took part in every day local activities, or went to local day centres, as they chose. People were complimentary about staff that supported them, describing them as kind and caring.
Care was delivered based on the individual support needs of each person. Relatives were included in planning how people were cared for and supported, and people were supported by staff who had the skills to meet their needs.
People's right to make their own decisions was not always respected. People's involvement in care planning and decision making was not recorded by the provider. Mental capacity assessments were not in place to support decisions that were made in the person's 'best interests', if they lacked the capacity to make them themselves. 'Best interests' decisions were not recorded to show how decisions had been reached.
Staff knew people well and respected their privacy and dignity. The person and relative we spoke with told us they knew how to make a complaint if they needed to. The manager had procedures in place to respond to complaints in a timely way.
The provider had failed to notify us of all the important incidents that happened at the service, as required by the regulations. The manager and provider checked the quality of the service, however quality checks did not always identify where improvements were needed. Where improvements were identified the provider and manager had acted to improve the service.