Archived: Obelisk House

This unannounced inspection took place on 6th October 2015. Obelisk House provides accommodation and personal care for up to 44 people. On the day of our inspection there were 40 people using the service.

A registered manager was not in post. 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.

People felt safe living at Obelisk House but improvements were required to ensure staffing levels were sufficient. Action had been taken to prevent any more people using the service until sufficient numbers of staff had been recruited. Risk assessments were generic and required personalising to meet people’s individual needs. People were appropriately supported to take their medicines and secure storage arrangements were in place to hold people’s medicines. Staff recruitment procedures were robust to ensure staff were suitable for their positions and staff were knowledgeable about how they could identify and report preventable abuse.

Improvements were required to the training that staff received, particularly with moving and handling techniques staff used to support people moving and transferring. In addition, improvements were required to ensure accurate training records were held by the service. The manager and staff were aware of their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) however improvements were required to the level of detail contained in people’s records about this. Most people were given sufficient support to eat nutritious meals and people received timely healthcare when they needed it. Staff received regular supervision with senior staff about their performance.

People received support from friendly and kind staff. People’s privacy and dignity was maintained and people’s individuality was respected. People were supported to make their own choices about the care they received and people were encouraged to make their environment as homely as possible.

People were involved in their care planning and deciding on the support they would like to receive. However, care was not always delivered in the way that people wished and care records did not contain sufficient detail to show how people had received their care. People were offered little stimulation and care did not always correlate with people’s interests. Staff were knowledgeable about how to support people when they became distressed or unwell. People were supported to maintain their relationships with people that were important to them and complaints and concerns were investigated and acted on.

There was not a registered manager in post and a current application had not been made to the CQC. Staff had confidence the service was being well-led through a period of change in managers and the atmosphere and culture of the service was positive with a team approach. There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service however these were not always effective at identifying where improvements were required. People were involved when changes were made and were asked for their feedback about the service.

We identified that the provider was in breach of two of the Regulations of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 (Part 3) and you can see at the end of this report the action we have asked them to take.