Archived: Langdon Park

Updated 16 February 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 inspection took place on 18 January 2016 and was unannounced.

The inspection was undertaken by one inspector. Before the inspection we looked at information about the home that we had. This included previous inspection reports, information provided by the home, the provider information return (PIR) form, correspondence and notifications.

During the inspection we spoke with five people living in the home. We also spoke to the deputy manager, the operations manager and five members of staff.

We looked at the home’s policies and procedures, four care records and four medicines administration records. We also looked at three staffing records.

We also wrote and spoke to a sample of external professionals who provided support to the home, including physiotherapists and speech and language teams. We received feedback from the local authority social work team.

We observed the care practice at the home, tracked the care provided to people by reviewing their records and interviewing staff.

Updated 16 February 2016

We carried out an inspection of 18 Langdon Park on 18 January 2016. The inspection was unannounced. At the previous inspection of 9 July 2014 the home had met all the required standards.

18 Langdon Park is a home for up to six people who have learning disabilities, some of whom have additional physical disabilities. At the time of our inspection there were six people living in the home.

The registered manager had recently left the organisation and the provider had successfully recruited a replacement who would apply for registration once 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.

People who lived at the home were protected from the risk of abuse happening to them. People did not communicate conversationally or in other conventional ways. However, throughout the inspection visit they were able to demonstrate through their body language and interaction with staff that they felt safe and well cared for.

We saw that people’s health and nutrition were regularly monitored. There were well established links with GP services and other community health services such as occupational therapists, dieticians and speech and language therapists.

Care records were individual to each person and contained information about people’s life history, their likes and dislikes, and information which would be helpful to hospitals or other health support services.

Staffing levels were managed flexibly to suit people's needs so that people received their care when they needed it. Staff had access to information, support and training that they needed to do their jobs well. The provider’s training programme was designed to meet the needs of people using the service so that staff had the knowledge and skills they required to care for people effectively.

There was an open and inclusive atmosphere in the service. Staff told us they found the management team to be approachable and supportive. Staff were able to challenge when they felt there could be improvements.

The provider carried out regular audits to monitor the quality of the service and to plan improvements. Action plans were used so the provider could monitor whether necessary changes were made.