Poppy Fields

Poppy Fields is an Extra Care Housing scheme that provides personal care for people living in their own flat or house across two sites. There were 49 people using the service at the time of the inspection. The site is split into three parts in two separate sites. People supported include; people living with dementia and people requiring support with regaining their independence in an assessment unit.

In the assessment unit, people lived within their own self-contained flats whilst receiving support to regain their independence with the aim of returning home. If this is not possible, people may then reside permanently at Poppy Fields, or move to a residential care home. Poppy Fields staff provide people with support with their personal care and work alongside health and social care professionals such as physiotherapists and social workers.

People’s experience of using this service:

Quality assurance processes were not consistently implemented to help the provider and the registered manager to identify and act on areas which could pose a risk to people’s safety. There was a lack of provider-led audits in place to hold the performance of the registered manager and other staff to account. We have made a recommendation to the provider about this. There was a lack of best practice guidance and legislation used to inform care planning and risk assessment.

The risks to people’s health and safety were, in most cases recorded within their records. People told us they received their medicines safely.

People 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. We did note there was an inconsistent approach to ensuring that only legally appointed people signed records on behalf of others when decisions were being made for them.

Where people received support with their meals, staff did so effectively and in line with dietary requirements. Although there was conflicting guidance for one person in relation to the support they needed with their meals.

Incidents that could affect people’s safety were reported to the relevant authorities. There were enough staff to care for people safely. People told us they felt the punctuality of staff had improved since the new provider took over the managing of this service. Staff understood how to reduce the risk of the spread of infection in people’s flats.

Staff training was up to date and staff received supervision of their practice. People had access to other health and social care agencies if needed.

People liked the staff, they found them to be caring and respectful and they received personal care in a dignified way. People’s independence was encouraged and privacy respected. People’s care records were person-centred and contained guidance for staff to support them in their preferred way. Innovative methods had been used to provide people with information in formats they could understand. People felt able to make a complaint and were confident their complaint would be acted on. End of life care was not currently provided.

The registered manager had a good knowledge of their regulatory requirement to report concerns to the CQC. People told us they would recommend the service to others but would welcome the opportunity to meet with the registered manager more often. People’s views were requested and acted on.

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 11 October 2018 and this is the first inspection.

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.