Archived: Ewart House

Updated 2 August 2018

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, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

One inspector carried out the announced inspection on 26 June 2018. We told the provider two days before our visit that we would be coming. We gave the provider notice of our inspection as we needed to make sure that someone was at the office in order for us to carry out the inspection. Following the inspection, an expert by experience contacted people who received care from the service to obtain their feedback. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Before we visited the service we checked the information that we held about the service and the service provider including notifications we had received from the provider about events and incidents affecting the safety and well-being of people.

During our inspection, we reviewed six people’s care plans, six staff files, training records and records relating to the management of the service such as audits, policies and procedures. On the day of the inspection we spoke with nine members of staff including the quality and compliance manager, senior team leader, two team leaders and five care assistants. At the time of the inspection, the registered manager was on leave and we therefore spoke with her following the inspection.

We also spoke with eight service users and seven relatives in order to obtain feedback about the service.

Updated 2 August 2018

We undertook an announced inspection of Ewart House on 26 June 2018.

Ewart House is an extra care housing service providing personal care to people. Ewart House is a purpose built block of flats on 3 levels, containing 47 flats. The service provides support to older people to remain independent and live in their own flat within their community. At the time of inspection the service provided personal care to 30 people who lived in flats in Ewart House.

CQC only inspect the service received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

There was 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.

The service was previously operated by another organisation but was taken over by Hales Group Limited. The service was registered with the CQC in July 2017. This inspection on 26 June 2018 was the first inspection for the service under new management.

People who used the service and relatives we spoke with told us they were satisfied with the care and services provided. People told us they were treated with respect and felt safe when cared for by the service.

Systems and processes were in place to help protect people from the risk of harm and care staff demonstrated that they were aware of these. Appropriate risk assessments were in place and contained guidance for minimising potential risks to people. Care staff had received training in safeguarding adults and knew how to recognise and report any concerns or allegations of abuse.

We checked the arrangements in place in respect of medicines. Care workers had received medicines training and policies and procedures were in place. We looked at a sample of Medicines Administration Records (MARs) and found that there were gaps in some of these. We also found that medicines audits failed to identify these gaps. We raised this issue with management. Following the inspection, they confirmed that they had reviewed their audit and had immediately implemented a revised format that enabled them to clearly document issues regarding the completion of MARs.

Care staff had the necessary knowledge and skills they needed to carry out their roles and responsibilities through training and monitoring. Care staff spoke positively about their experiences working for the service and said that they received support from management and morale amongst staff was positive.

People and relatives told us there were no issues with regards to care staff punctuality and attendance. They told us that people experienced consistency in the care they received and had regular care staff. Management confirmed that the service did not employ agency staff. This ensured that people were familiar with care staff and felt comfortable with them.

Care plans included information about peoples' mental health and their levels of capacity to make decisions and provide consent to their care.

Care support plans were individualised and addressed areas such as people's personal care, what tasks needed to be done each day, time of visits, people's needs and how these needs were to be met. They also included details of people's preferences.

There was a management structure in place with a team of care staff, team leaders, senior team leader and the registered manager. Staff told us that communication was good at the service and said they received up to date information. Staff were informed of changes occurring within the service through daily handovers and staff meetings where they had an opportunity to share good practice and any concerns.

There were systems in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service. The service carried out a formal satisfaction survey in April 2018. We saw evidence that the service had analysed the responses but due to the small number of responses, feedback was limited. The service had introduced another survey in June 2018 which focused on whether the service was caring. However, some feedback from people and relatives indicated that they felt they were not regularly asked for their comments and views. We have made a recommendation in respect of this.

The service undertook checks and audits of the quality of the service.