24 November 2014
During a routine inspection
Riverview House is a registered care home which provides support and non-nursing care for up to 14 adults who have a learning disability. People live in two separate houses which are located in a residential suburb of the city of Peterborough. At the time of our inspection there were 11 people living at the home.
A registered manager was in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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 inspection was unannounced and was carried out on 24 November 2014 by one inspector. The last inspection was carried out on 29 July 2013 when we found the provider was meeting all the requirements.
During this inspection of 24 November 2014 we found that people were kept safe because they were looked after by enough staff to support them with their individual needs, which included going out and about in the community. Pre-employment checks were completed on staff before they were judged to be suitable to work at the care home. People were satisfied with how they were supported to be kept safe and were also happy with how they were given their medication.
People were supported to eat and drink sufficient amounts of food and drink. They were also supported to access a range of health care services and their individual communication needs were understood and were met.
People’s rights in making decisions and suggestions in relation to their support and care were valued and acted on. However, improvements were needed to ensure that people were supported with making decisions, which included those in relation to the management of their health and personal finances. People took part in a range of work and recreational pastimes and were supported by staff who were trained and supported to do their job.
The CQC monitors the operation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA 2005) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) which applies to care services. We found that some of the people’s rights may not necessarily have been protected and improvements in relation to this should be made.
People were treated well by kind, respectful and attentive staff. People and their relatives were involved in the review of people’s individual care plans.
Support and care was provided based on people’s individual needs and they were supported to maintain contact with their relatives and the local community. There was an informal process so that people’s concerns and complaints were listened to and these were acted upon.
A registered manager was in post and the care home was well-led. Staff enjoyed their work and were supported and managed to look after people in a caring and safe way. People and their relatives were able to make suggestions on an informal, day-to-day basis and actions were taken as a result. Quality monitoring procedures were in place and action had been taken where improvements were identified.