Archived: The Lady Verdin Trust - Crewe Road

Updated 20 November 2015

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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 inspection was unannounced and took place on the 24 September 2015. Phone calls to the family members of the people living in the home and a visit to the head office of the Lady Verdin Trust [The Trust] to look at training and recruitment records took places on the 2, 9 and 15 October. The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector.

Before the inspection we checked the information that we held about the service and the service provider. We looked at any notifications received and reviewed any other information we held prior to visiting. We also invited the local authority to provide us with any information they held about Crewe Road.

During our inspection we saw how the people who lived in the home were provided with care. We spoke with the four people living in the home but because of their communication difficulties we were unable to judge what they thought of the care being provided to them. After obtaining consent we then contacted three family members who visited regularly to obtain their opinions about the quality of care being provided. They were able to tell us what they thought about the home and the staff members working there.

Crewe Road is a domestic property so we were conscious of not being intrusive. We looked at all areas of the home and found that it was well furnished, homely and had been adapted to meet the needs of the people living there. This enabled us to observe how people’s care and support was provided. We looked at two people’s care plans and other documents including policies and procedures and audit materials.

Updated 20 November 2015

This inspection was unannounced and took place on the 24 September 2015. Phone calls to the family members of the people living in the home and a visit to the head office of the Lady Verdin Trust [The Trust] to look at training and recruitment records took places on the 2, 9 and 15 October respectively.

Crewe Road is part of the Lady Verdin Trust and is close to shops and other local amenities. It is located in a residential area on the outskirts of Crewe and can provide accommodation for up to four people who require support and care with their daily living. Staff members were available twenty four hours a day. At the time of our visit there were four people living in the house.

Crewe Road had 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.

The registered manager, (their job title within the organisation was community services director), did not work in the home on a daily basis. Day to day management was provided by a community support manager who had responsibility for additional services operated by the Trust and a house manager who was solely responsible for Crewe Road.

Because of their communication needs we were unable to ask the people living in the home about whether they thought the staff members supporting them were caring. We did however speak to three family members of the people living in the home and they were very positive about the staff members and their ability to care for their relatives.

The service had a range of policies and procedures which helped staff refer to good practice and included guidance on the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. This meant that the staff members were aware of people's rights to make their own decisions. They were also aware of the need to protect people's rights if they had difficulty in making decisions for themselves.

We asked staff members about training and they confirmed that they received regular training throughout the year, they described this as their CPD [continuous professional development] training and that it was up to date.

The care files were reviewed regularly so staff knew what changes in care provision, if any, had been made. The two files we looked at both explained what was important to the individual and how best to support them. This helped to ensure that people’s needs continued to be met.

Staff members we spoke with were positive about how the home was being managed. Throughout the inspection we observed them interacting with each other in a professional manner. All of the staff members we spoke with were positive about the service and the quality of the support being provided.

We found that the provider and the home used a variety of methods in order to assess the quality of the service they were providing to people. These included regular audits on areas such as the care files, including risk assessments, medication, individual finances and staff training. The records were being maintained properly.