Archived: Penfold Street

Penfold Street is an extra care service. The service provides support to older people and people with physical disabilities who live in their own flats at this location. At the time of our inspection there were 46 people using the service.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. In this service, the Care Quality Commission can only inspect the service received by people who get support with personal care. This includes help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where people receive such support, we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People told us they liked living at the service and were well respected by staff. Comments from people using the service included “I find this place exceptionally good” and “I love it here.”

People were encouraged to be involved in the daily running of the service and participated in a range of activities, including gardening and trips out. Managers engaged with residents through regular meetings and people were confident approaching the registered manager for advice or for a chat.

There were improved systems for detecting and preventing risk. The service understood which residents were at a higher risk from fires or other avoidable harm and had introduced a range of checks to ensure people were safe. The service worked with other agencies including the London Fire Brigade and health teams to improve the way they worked to keep people safe. People were confident raising concerns with managers and the service acted appropriately when abuse was suspected. Staff members had the right skills to keep people safe and this was reviewed through regular training and observation.

Medicines were safely managed and the service understood how to protect people from infections, including COVID-19. There were systems for reviewing when things had gone wrong and making sure lessons were learned as a result. The provider had delivered an action plan to ensure concerns from the previous inspection were addressed and systems were improved as a result.

Staff members reported feeling well supported by managers and working together to deliver a good service for residents. Staff understood their responsibilities to ensure the service was safe and that safety concerns were addressed promptly.

For more information, please read the detailed findings section of this report. If you are reading this as a separate summary, the full report can be found on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 27 May 2021).

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 3 March 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found in relation to safe care and good governance. After this inspection the provider met with us to tell us how they would improve the service and by when.

We undertook this focused inspection to check if the provider had made improvements and if they were now meeting the legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions safe and well-led.

At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was now meeting these regulations.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Penfold Street on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

Penfold Street is an extra care sheltered housing scheme comprised of 51 flats and bedsit apartments. People's care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements with tenancy agreements managed by the provider. Care and support is available from 24-hour on-site staff.

The care quality commission (CQC) does not regulate premises used for extra care housing. CQC only inspects the service being received by people being supported 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.

At the time of the inspection, the service was providing personal care to 27 people. A small number of care and support packages were being provided by other external domiciliary care agencies.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People were not always safe. The provider had not ensured that risks to people using the service were being assessed in full, recorded accurately, mitigated and reviewed regularly.

Quality assurance processes were not always effective in identifying and addressing the shortfalls in safety and quality that we found during our inspection.

We discussed the above issues with the registered manager at the time of our inspection. Due to immediate concerns, we wrote to the provider to ensure urgent action would be taken to resolve the issues we had identified. The provider has since submitted an action plan outlining the improvements they have put in place to address and mitigate risks in relation to these matters.

We received both positive and negative feedback from people and their relatives about the care and support provided by the service.

People’s medicines were managed safely.

The provider worked in partnership with a range of health and social care professionals.

Staff were positive about how the provider had supported them during the pandemic.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 22 October 2018 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part by notification of a specific incident. Following which a person using the service died. This incident is subject to a separate investigation. As a result, this inspection did not examine the circumstances of the incident.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led sections of this full report.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service/We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and governance at this inspection. We made one recommendation in relation to meal provision.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

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.