Background to this inspection
Updated
7 January 2020
The inspection
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
The inspection team consisted of one inspector.
Service and service type
St Agatha's Presbytery is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a 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 had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
The inspection took place on the 21 November 2019. We gave the home 48 hours' notice of the inspection because it is a small home and we needed to be sure the registered manager, staff and people receiving support would be available for us to speak with.
What we did before the inspection
Before the inspection we reviewed the information, we held about the service, including notifications we had received. Notifications are changes, events or incidents the provider is legally required to tell us about within required timescales. We used this information to plan the inspection. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us 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.
During the inspection
We met with both people living at the service and gave them the opportunity to talk with us and share their views, but one of the people chose to decline. We also spoke with two members of staff and the registered manager. To help us assess and understand how people's care needs were being met we reviewed both people’s care records. We also reviewed a number of records relating to the running of the home. These included staff recruitment and training records, medicine records and records associated with the provider's quality assurance systems.
Updated
7 January 2020
About the service
St Agatha's Presbytery is a small care home that provides accommodation, personal care and support to a maximum of two younger people who have a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder. At the time of the inspection there were two people living at the service.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People told us they were happy and liked living at St Agatha's Presbytery. Staff were seen to be kind, caring and respectful of people's needs and people were complimentary about the care and support provided.
People received individualised care and support from staff who knew them well. The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence.
People received individualised care and support in a way that was flexible and responsive to their needs from staff who knew them well. However, we found whilst regular reviews were taking place some aspects of people’s care records had not been updated when significant changes had occurred. We have recommended the provider reviews the systems in place to ensure people’s support plans are fully reflective of people's individual changing needs and wishes.
People were encouraged and supported to engage with a range of healthcare services. Staff understood people's healthcare needs and acted promptly to changes in people's health.
People’s medicines were managed safely and stored securely.
People were protected from the risk of abuse and were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
People were encouraged and supported to maintain links with the community to help ensure they were not socially isolated. People were encouraged to share their views and people told us they were aware of how to make a complaint.
People were protected by safe recruitment processes. Systems were in place to ensure staff were recruited safely and were suitable support people who might be vulnerable by their circumstances.
People and staff had confidence in the service and told us the service was well managed.
The service was clean, and staff had access to personal protective equipment (PPE)
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was ‘Requires Improvement’ (published on 6 December 2018) and there were multiple breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.