Background to this inspection
Updated
8 May 2019
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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team:
This inspection was carried out by one inspector and one inspection manager.
Service and service type:
Telegraph House provides personal care for people with a learning disability in their own home, some people chose to live together. People had their own bedrooms and shared communal spaces. CQC regulates only the care provided, we do not regulate the premises where the person lives.
The registered provider was leading the service. Registered providers are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
Notice of inspection:
This inspection was carried out on 13 March 2019 and was announced. Forty eight hours' notice of the inspection was given because we needed to be sure that people who wanted to speak to us were available during the inspection.
What we did:
We reviewed information we had received about the service. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as serious injuries. The provider had completed a Provider Information Return. Providers are required to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. Before the inspection we received feedback from three healthcare professionals.
During the inspection we looked at the following:
We reviewed some records and made observations, these included;
• We spoke with three people and spent time observing interactions between staff and people.
• We spoke with the provider, assistant manager, and two staff.
• After the inspection we spoke with two relatives.
After the inspection we received additional evidence from the provider which we took into consideration when making our judgments.
Updated
8 May 2019
About the service:
Telegraph House provides personal care for people with a learning disability in their own home. There were seven people using the service at the time of our inspection. The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence.
People’s experience of using this service:
¿ The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support in the following ways; people were encouraged to be a part of the local community; attending clubs, day centres, leisure centres, local shops, pubs and other local services. People were supported to make their own decisions and be as independent as possible.
¿ People were put at the centre of the service and the culture was person-centred. People appeared happy, relaxed and at ease in their home and with other people.
¿ Staff spoke to people with kindness and respect, there was a lot of laughter between people and staff.
¿ People were encouraged to take responsibility of their own health.
¿ People were fully included in planning their personalised care.
¿ There was flexibility in how staff were deployed. People could change activities or receive their contracted hours at other times.
¿ People were supported in a way which focused on what they could do and promoted independence.
¿ People were consulted before other people moved into shared homes.
¿ People were encouraged to make as many decisions for themselves as possible. When people were unable to make complex decisions, decisions were made in their best interests with full involvement of people who knew the person well.
¿ Staff were trained in safe medicines management and people were fully involved in making decisions about how they took their medicines.
¿ Staff understood their responsibilities to keep people safe.
¿ All staff continued to receive regular training in areas essential to the effective running of the service.
¿ There continued to be effective monitoring around learning when things went wrong.
¿ There was a complaints policy and procedure in place with an easy read version to help people understand how to raise any concerns.
¿ The registered provider supported staff by offering continuous training, supervision and feedback.
¿ The registered provider continued to have a clear vision of the quality of service which was shared by staff.
¿ Staff were very positive about the culture of the service and were committed to providing people with support in a caring and personalised way.
¿ The registered provider held weekly staff meetings which fully engaged staff who were responsible for planning the agenda.
¿ Out of hours checks to monitor the quality of care provided were conducted.
¿ People, relatives and other significant individuals were asked for feedback so the service could improve.
Rating at last inspection:
This service was rated, “Good” at the last inspection on 01 April 2016. We published this rating on 10 June 2016.
Why we inspected:
This was a planned comprehensive inspection to check the service remained Good. We found overall that the service continued to meet the characteristics of Good.
Follow up:
We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive. We will carry out another scheduled inspection to make sure the service continues to maintain a Good rating.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk