Island Place

Island Place provides accommodation and personal care for 39 adults with mental health needs and those who require support whilst dealing with substance misuse. Accommodation is provided over three floors with people having access to communal facilities.

People's experience of using this service and what we found ¿All the people we spoke with praised the home. People felt safe and were well cared for. People's preferences were respected, and staff were sensitive and attentive to people's needs. Staff were seen to be kind, caring and friendly and it was clear staff knew people well.

There were sufficient numbers of staff employed to ensure people's needs were met. We saw staff had time to sit and engage with people in conversation.¿

Recruitment practices were safe and staff received the training they required for their role.

Risks to people's health, safety and well-being were assessed and care plans were in place to ensure risks were mitigated as much as possible.

Staff were aware of their responsibilities to safeguard people and the home had robust procedures in place. ¿

People's care plans contained personalised information detailing how people wanted their care to be delivered.

Staff were keen to ensure people's rights were respected including those related to ethnicity and dietary requirements.

People received their medicines safely and as prescribed. Medicine management practices were safe.

The service was provided in a safe environment.

Consideration was given to providing a variety of leisure and social activities for people to enjoy. ¿

Quality assurance systems were in place to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service provided. ¿¿For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk¿¿Rating at last inspection ¿The last rating for this service was good (report published 07 February 2017).

Follow Up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we will inspect sooner.

Island Place provides accommodation and personal care for 39 adults with mental health needs and those who require support whilst dealing with substance misuse. There were 37 people living in the home at the time of the inspection.

Island Place had a registered manager in post. 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.

Staff worked as a team to ensure people received the appropriate level of observation to keep them and others safe. The provider had recruitment procedures that ensured staff were of a suitable character to work with people at the home. Staff had received training in the areas considered essential for meeting the needs of people in a care environment safely and effectively.

Staff knew people's individual communication skills and abilities and showed concern for people's wellbeing in a caring and meaningful way. Staff were observant of people and responded to their needs quickly.

New staff received an induction which included working alongside more experienced staff. This helped them get to know people’s needs and establish a relationship before working with them on a one to one basis. Staff felt there were enough staff to keep people safe and ensure people could attend activities and have planned trips out from the home.

Risk assessments and management plans covered all aspects of people’s needs and included safety when outside the home, travel, finances, health and daily routines. There were appropriate arrangements for the recording and checking of medicines to ensure people’s health and welfare was protected against the risks associated with the handling of medicines. However some improvements are required to ensure people’s medicines are administered consistently and safely.

Staff worked within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and had a good understanding of their responsibilities in making sure people were supported in accordance with their preferences and wishes. Staff knew people's individual communication skills and abilities and showed concern for people's wellbeing in a caring and meaningful way. They were observant of people and responded to their needs quickly.

Care records were personalised and each file contained information about the person's likes, dislikes, preferences and the people who were important to them. Plans around behaviours were written to reinforce positive behaviour rather than concentrating on negatives. Care plans also included information that enabled the staff to monitor the well-being of people. There were systems in place for staff to share information through having very detailed daily records for each person.

Audits and checks of the service were carried out by the management team and the provider. These checks ensured the service had continuously improved, though this had not identified in action to ensure comprehensive cleanliness or good repair of all facilities. The provider ensured all notifications required by law had been sent to us in accordance with the legislation.

When we returned to inspect the service in March 2014 to review the improvements we found a majority of the work had been completed, where work was ongoing the provider was able to provide documentary evidence of the ordering of furniture and soft furnishings. The manager had introduced systems to ensure that the cleaning of the service was monitored and recorded.

We spoke with one person who showed us their bedroom, they told us they had chosen the colour and that they were happy with the changes made. Two other people told us of improvements to the service and the decoration and cleaning which had taken place.

We looked at five people's care plans and found these had been regularly reviewed and included the views and comments of people who used the service and had been signed by them. People who used the service were supported by a range of external health and social care professionals and staff at the service supported people where necessary to arrange and attend appointments.

We found improvements were required to the maintenance and cleaning of the building and equipment, which included communal areas and facilities, such as lounges, dining areas, kitchens, bathing and shower facilities, corridors and individual bedrooms. Soft furnishings and furniture in some instances, which included sofas, chairs, lamp shades, windows, curtains and blinds required replacement or cleaning. People we spoke with told us they were happy with their bedrooms and did not raise any concerns about the environment. The provider has provided us with information as to what action they will be taking to address the issues identified.

The providers' complaints procedure was displayed and records and discussions with the registered manager showed the service had not received any complaints within the last twelve months. People who used the service told us they did not have any concerns and would speak with manager or a member of staff if they did.

We found people's care records to be up to date and accurately maintained. All the staff had received appropriate training and fully understood their responsibilities. We also found that the provider respected people's choices if they had the capacity to make their own decisions. When such decisions did not fully meet someone's care needs of people, the staff would actively support the person and seek alternate ways to obtain a decision that better supported them.

People were kept safe from abuse and the staff fully understood their responsibilities to keep people safe at all times.