People in Action - 132 Manor Court Road

Updated 3 February 2024

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 2 inspectors.

Service and service type

People in Action - 132 Manor Court Road is a 'care home'. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. People in Action - 132 Manor Court Road is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was no registered manager for this location. A registered manager from one of the providers other locations had transferred to the home and had submitted their application to become registered at this location. This was approved shortly after our site visit.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced. Inspection activity started on 3 January 2024 and ended on 8 January 2024. We visited the service on 3 January 2024 and 5 January 2024.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We asked the local authority for any information they had which would aid our inspection. Local authorities, together with other agencies may have responsibility for funding people who use the service and monitoring its quality. We also sought feedback from Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 2 relatives and received email feedback from 3 people’s advocates about their experience of the care provided. We spent time with the 6 people who lived at the home observing the quality of care and support they received. This helped us to understand the experiences of people who we were unable to communicate verbally with us. We spoke with 9 members of staff including the registered manager, 2 assistant managers, 4 support workers, the operations manager and a director from the provider company. We also spoke to a healthcare professional about their experience of the care provided.

We reviewed a range of records. This included information contained in 3 people's care and medicine records. We also looked at 2 staff recruitment files and records related to the overall management and quality assurance of the service.

Updated 3 February 2024

About the service

People in Action - 132 Manor Court Road is a residential care home providing accommodation with personal care for up to 8 people. At the time of our inspection, there were 6 people living at the home. The home is an adapted domestic property where care and support are provided across 2 floors.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. 'Right support, right care, right culture' is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

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

Right Support: Improvements had been made and people now received the right day to day support to meet their physical, emotional and social needs. Records showed assessed staffing numbers had been maintained to provide safe and responsive care for people. Staff understood their responsibilities to safeguard people from the risk of abuse. However, systems did not always promote safe care. For example, medicines were not always managed safely, some environmental risks remained, the provider’s policy did not support the safe management of people’s money and records did not show people’s capacity was assessed to ensure people were involved in decisions about their care.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not always support this practice.

Right Care: At our last inspection we found people were not consistently supported to follow their interests or engage in meaningful activities they enjoyed, to help prevent boredom, isolation and a lack of stimulation. Improvements had been made. People were being supported to pursue their interests in their community and records showed people regularly left the home to do things they enjoyed.

Right Culture: A new, experienced manager from within the provider company had transferred to the home and had focused on improving the culture. The provider had made a significant number of staff changes to ensure people were supported by skilled and competent staff who treated people with dignity, respect and kindness. However, further improvements were needed. The provider’s systems and processes failed to assess, monitor and drive forward enough improvement in the quality of care to be compliant with the regulations.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was inadequate (published 21 June 2023). 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 some improvements had been made abut the provider remained in breach of regulations.

This service has been in Special Measures since 21 June 2023. During this inspection the provider demonstrated that improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from inadequate to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to continue to make improvements. Please see the safe, effective and well-led sections of this full report. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for People in Action - 132 Manor Court Road on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to safe treatment and governance at this inspection. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.