Normanshire Care - Longwood Gardens

Updated 1 February 2019

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

This inspection took place on the 15 January 2019 and was unannounced. The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we already held about this service. This included details of its registration, previous inspection reports and any notifications of significant events the provider had sent us. Due to technical problems, the provider was not able to complete a 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. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We contacted the local authority with responsibility for commissioning care from the service to seek their views.

During the inspection we spoke with three people who used the service and observed how staff interacted with people. We also spoke with four staff; two deputy managers and two support workers. We reviewed three sets of records relating to people including care pans, risk assessments and medicine records. We checked five sets of staff recruitment, training and supervision records. We looked at the quality assurance and monitoring systems used at the service and read minutes of both staff and residents meetings. We checked several policies and procedures.

Updated 1 February 2019

This inspection took place on the 15 January 2019 and was unannounced. At the previous inspection of this service in January 2018 we rated them as Requires Improvement and found two breaches of regulations. This was because care and support was not always provided a way that was safe and effective quality assurance and monitoring systems had not been established. During this inspection we found these issues had been addressed.

Normanshire Care – Longwood Gardens is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. The service is registered to provide care to a maximum of six people and six people were using the service at the time of our 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.

The service had a registered manager in place. 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.

There were enough staff working at the service to meet people’s needs and checks were carried out on staff before they commenced working at the service. Appropriate safeguarding procedures were in place. Risk assessments provided information about how to support people in a safe manner. Procedures were in place to reduce the risk of the spread of infection. Medicines were managed in a safe manner. Steps had been taken to help ensure the premises were safe.

People’s needs were assessed before they started using the service to determine if those needs could be met. Staff received on-going training and supervision to support them in their role. People were able to make choices for themselves and the service operated within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. People told us they enjoyed the food. People were supported to access relevant health care professionals.

People told us they were treated with respect and that staff were caring. Staff had a good understanding of how to promote people’s privacy, independence and dignity. People’s right to confidentiality was promoted. The service sought to meet needs in relation to equality, diversity and human rights.

Care plans were in place which set out how to meet people’s individual needs. Care plans were subject to regular review. People were supported to engage in various activities, both in the home and the community. The service had a complaints procedure in place and people knew how to make a complaint. Care plans were in place around end of life care.

Staff and people spoke positively about the senior staff at the service. Systems were in place for monitoring the quality of care and support provided. Some of these included seeking the views of people who used the service.

We have made one recommendation in this report, that systems are introduced for checking monies held by the service on behalf of people.