Archived: Housing & Care 21 - Preston

Housing and Care 21 Preston, provides short and long term domiciliary support to people with a wide range of needs. Services include home care, crisis support, rehabilitation, reablement and extra care housing. The service currently operates mainly in the areas of South Ribble, Chorley and Preston.

At the last inspection on the 24 February 2014. The service was found to be meeting the regulations applicable at that time.

The service was managed by a registered manager. 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.

People informed they felt safe and well looked after and where satisfied with the care they received from Housing and Care 21. People felt the staff were trustworthy and valued their support and advice with day to day living. We established that the provider had adequate policies in place and ensured appropriate recruitment procedures were carried out prior to staff starting work. We were able to establish that the service had appropriate levels of staff and the service had a rolling staff recruitment process.

Processes were in place to provide staff with the appropriate amount of training and the provider had safeguards in place which prevented staff from working should their training expire. New staff were required to complete a thorough induction and shadowing experience prior to starting work and following a period of shadowing and direct observations done by senior staff where then signed off as competent to work.

Appropriate processes were in place for the safe administration of medicines in line with best practice guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Staff had received training in medicines management

The registered manager understood the principles associated with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and acted according to this legislation. People had access to a GP and other health care professionals when they needed them and reported that staff were responsive to their needs if they felt unwell.

People told us that staff supported them in a respectful and dignified manner and that their privacy was respected. People and their families were involved in the care planning process and also were part of any reviews which took place where appropriate. Support plans reflected the person’s need for support, however, some care plans we saw used generalised terms. We were assured by the registered manager that these would be looked at and amended with more detail. Similarly we saw in two care files a lack of risk assessment to identify and provide guidance to staff on possible areas of risk. The registered manager assured she would audit these files and ensure the correct documentation was added.

People were aware of how they could raise a complaint or concern if they needed and felt confident that any concerns would be dealt with appropriately.

There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service which included seeking feedback from people and regular audits. Any areas of improvement were identified and actioned appropriately.

People who used the service provided positive feedback about the support they received. Comments included; 'They are reliable, careful and efficient. I manage myself as well as I can but they will do anything I ask.' 'I haven't been well lately and they really take care of me.' And 'They are wonderful. They have given me back my confidence. I look forward to seeing them, to talk and advise me.'

Regular reviews and discussions helped to ensure support plans remained current and met the changing needs of people who used the service.

Policies, procedures, staff training and good practice helped to ensure medication was managed safely and appropriately.

People who used the service spoke favourably of the staff team. We were told; 'The girls are excellent.' 'I couldn't have managed without them.' And 'They are all lovely girls with a tremendous sense of humour.'

A specialist dementia nurse based at the service told us, 'I feel they (the staff) are really well trained.'

People who used the service told us they felt able to raise any concern and were confident it would be dealt with. People told us any issues were responded to quickly and that in the main matters were resolved to their satisfaction.

Quality monitoring systems helped to ensure satisfactory standards were maintained.