Archived: Houghton Regis Community Care Scheme

Updated 30 March 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This was an unannounced inspection, which meant the provider did not know we were coming. It was carried out over a two day period by one inspector from the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We visited the home on 12 February 2016 and carried out telephone interviews with people’s relatives and care professionals on 14 February 2016.

Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed the information available to us about the home, such as the notifications that they had sent us. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We also reviewed the report issued following a recent local authority monitoring visit.

On the day of our inspection we spoke with one person who lived at the home, three members of staff and the registered manager. We observed how care was delivered and reviewed the care records and risk assessments for three people who lived at the home. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We checked people’s medicines and reviewed medicines administration records. We also looked at staff recruitment, training and supervision records. We reviewed information on how the quality of the service was monitored and managed.

After the inspection we spoke with three relatives of the people who lived at the home and one care professional who regularly visited the home.

Updated 30 March 2016

This inspection took place on 12 February 2016 and was unannounced. We spoke with relatives of the people who use this service to gather their views on 15 February 2016. When we last inspected this service in June 2013 we found that the provider was meeting the legal requirements in the areas that we looked at.

Houghton Regis Community Care Scheme is a residential care service that provides accommodation for up to 16 people with learning and physical disabilities. People who lived at this service were cared for in four flats all situated in the same complex each able to house four people. At the time of our inspection there were 11 people living at this service.

The home has 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 were safe as the provider had effective systems in place to protect them from avoidable harm. However, improvements within the environment were needed to make the service safer and suitable for the people who lived there. People’s medicines were administered safely and they were supported to access other healthcare professionals to maintain their health and well-being.

People were involved in choosing the food they had and were offered choices of nutritious food and drinks throughout the day. The people who needed help to eat their food were supported in doing so by staff. They were encouraged to maintain their independence and supported to maintain their interests and hobbies.

It was unclear if people were aware of the provider’s complaints system due to the nature of their learning disabilities. However the provider had information in an easy read format available in all the four flats. People were encouraged to contribute to the development of the service.

Staff were trained and they understood the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA), and the associated Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. They were caring and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood the provider’s visions and values.

People and their relatives were asked for feedback about the service to enable improvements and there was an effective quality monitoring system in place.