This inspection took place on 10 November 2015 and was unannounced. At our previous inspection in March 2014, we found the provider was meeting the regulations in relation to the outcomes we inspected.
Maple House is a small care home that provides care and support for up to five people with a learning disability. At the time of our inspection the home was providing support to five people and had a temporary manager in post.
At this inspection we found breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.
Medicines were not managed safely and appropriately and medicine audits were not conducted in line with the provider policy to ensure safe practice.
There were some quality assurance and governance systems in place to monitor the quality of the service provided, however these were not always operational, used or conducted in line with the provider’s policy to ensure issues were promptly identified and acted upon.
There were safeguarding adult’s policies and procedures in place to protect people from possible harm and incidents and accidents were recorded and acted on appropriately.
Assessments were conducted to assess levels of risk to people’s physical and mental health and care plans contained guidance to provide staff with information that would protect people from harm by minimising assessed risks.
There were safe recruitment practices in place and appropriate recruitment checks were conducted before staff started work. There were appropriate levels of staff on duty and deployed throughout the home to meet people’s needs.
There were arrangements in place to deal with foreseeable emergencies and there were systems in place to monitor the safety of the premises and equipment used within the home.
People were supported by staff that had appropriate skills and knowledge to meet their needs and staff received regular supervision, training and an annual appraisal of their performance.
Staff demonstrated good knowledge of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) including people’s right to make informed decisions independently but where necessary to act in someone’s best interests.
People were supported to eat and drink suitable healthy foods and sufficient amounts to meet their needs and ensure well-being. People had access to health and social care professionals when required.
Interactions between staff and people using the service were positive and staff had developed good relationships with people. People were supported to maintain relationships with relatives and friends. Care plans documented people’s involvement in the care and where appropriate that relatives were involved in their family members care.
Staff were knowledgeable about people's needs with regards to their disability, race, religion, sexual orientation and gender and supported people appropriately to meet their identified needs and wishes.
People were supported to engage in a range of activities that met their needs and reflected their interests.
People and their relatives told us they knew who to speak with if they had any concerns. There was a complaints policy and procedure in place and complaints were managed appropriately.
The temporary manager was knowledgeable about the requirements of being a registered manager and their responsibilities with regard to the Health and Social Care Act 2014.
The provider took account of the views of people using the service and their relatives through annual residents and relative’s surveys.