Archived: St Andrews Road

Updated 29 July 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.

The inspection took place on 4 July 2016 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location was a small care home for adults who are often out during the day; we needed to be sure that someone would be in. The inspection was carried out by a single inspector and after the inspection visit we completed phone calls with relatives and health professionals who were involved with the service to gather their views.

Before the inspection we reviewed information we held about the service. We had not asked the provider to submit a Provide 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 were able to gather this information during the inspection. In addition we looked at notifications which the service had sent us. We also spoke with the local authority quality improvement team and the fire safety officer to obtain their views about the service.

During the inspection we observed staff interactions with three people who used the service. We also spoke with two relatives, the registered manager and two health professionals who had knowledge about the service.

We looked around the service and observed care practices throughout the inspection. We looked at the care records of three people and reviewed records relating to how the service was run. We also looked at two staff files including recruitment and training records. Other records we looked at included Medicine Administration Records (MAR), accident and incident information, personal emergency evacuation plans and quality assurance audits.

Updated 29 July 2016

The inspection took place on 4 July 2016 and was announced. 193 St Andrews road provides care and support to three people with a range of complex health and support needs. It is situated on a main road just outside the centre of Bridport.

The service 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.

There were enough staff to keep people safe. The registered manager worked shifts at the service as well as their management role and staff were deployed to meet the individual needs of each person and what they had chosen to do each day.

People were protected from avoidable harm by staff who knew them well and understood the risks they faced. Risk assessments were comprehensive and focussed on supporting people to be as independent as possible whilst supporting and managing their individual risks. Staff were recruited following appropriate pre-employment checks and received appropriate training for their role.

People were supported to live in a safe environment because fire safety, building and equipment checks were carried out regularly and any issues were recorded and actioned.

People received their medicines as prescribed and we saw that they were stored safely and recording was accurate and regularly audited.

Staff had daily contact with the registered manager and were encouraged to speak with them whenever they needed to. Supervisions were regular and staff were encouraged to discuss and raise any issues and to consider further development and training.

People were supported to make decisions or to be involved in best interests decisions where they were unable to make decisions for themselves. Staff understood the relevant legislation around this and records were robust.

Staff understood how to offer people choice and we saw that people were involved in choices about all aspects of their support in ways they were able to understand.

People were supported by staff in a way which was kind and respectful. Rapport between people and staff was good and there was a relaxed atmosphere at the home. Staff ensured that they were mindful about how to maintain peoples privacy and dignity.

Relatives were regularly contacted to discuss any issues and were involved in reviews of their relatives care. Records were person centred and detailed, they gave histories of the people living at the home and focussed on what people liked and what their interests were.

There was an open culture at the service and staff were clear about their roles and responsibilities. Communication between staff and the registered manager was good, they encouraged staff to tell them about ideas and they had plans for how to further develop the service.

The registered managed encouraged best practice by linking with other organisations and ensuring they provided staff with information from research and regular updates about the service and any policy changes.

Quality assurance was robust and included checks carried out at the service and overview audits which were completed by Encompass head office.