Archived: Hillside House Domiciliary Care

Updated 30 March 2017

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.

Our inspection took place on 21 February 2017 and was announced. We gave the provider 48 hours notice as the service operates within a supported living establishment for people with learning disabilities and other mental health conditions. The service provided personal care to people who are often out during the day; we needed to be sure someone would be in. The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector.

Before the inspection we reviewed all the information we held about the service. We contacted the local authority and Healthwatch to ask if they had any information about the service they could share. They did not provide any information of concern. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We did not send a Provider Information Return (PIR) before this inspection. 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.

During the inspection we spoke with the registered manager, the deputy manager, one senior member of staff and two people who used the service. We also spoke with one person’s personal assistant (PA). We looked at the care plans of two people, and checked the medicines administration records (MAR) and stocks of medicines for three people. In addition we looked at other information relating to the running of the service including staff recruitment and training records, audit reports and procedures and policies.

Updated 30 March 2017

This inspection took place on 21 February 2017 and was announced. This was our first inspection of the service.

Hillside House Domiciliary Care provides limited personal care activities to three people living within a supported living environment. In this type of service people live in their own flats, but staff are also on the premises to provide care and support where required. There was a registered manager in post when we visited the service. 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.

We found there were audits in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service, however we found some recruitment files had been reviewed without identifying some documentation was missing or incorrectly dated.

People told us they felt safe using the service, and we saw good documentation in place to ensure risks associated with their care and support could be minimised. We saw some positive risks were taken to ensure people were not overly restricted in the way they lived their lives. People signed documentation to indicate their consent, and where necessary assessments of their capacity to make specific decisions had been carried out.

Staff were recruited safely. We saw the provider undertook background checks to ensure new staff were not barred from working with vulnerable people. People were further protected because staff received regular training in safeguarding. A full induction ensured staff received appropriate training before they started working in the service, and we saw they were supported to remain effective through regular training and supervision meetings. Not all staff had received an annual appraisal, however we saw the registered manager had an action plan in place to ensure appraisals were carried out.

We saw people who used the service did not require any assistance with personal care. People received safe support with their medicines when this was required or requested, and we found no errors in the records kept relating to the administration of medicines or the stocks held by the service. Records showed people received assistance with medicines at regular times each day.

Staff encouraged people to eat a healthy diet, although people planned and prepared their own meals. We saw one person had expressed a desire to lose weight and was receiving effective support to achieve this.

People told us the staff were caring, and we observed people and staff knew each other well. We saw evidence people were involved in the processes of writing and reviewing their care plans.

The provider supported people to maintain and improve their independence, and we saw information was made available in formats which ensured they were accessible to people who used the service. Documentation was written in a person-centred way.

There were systems and practices in place to ensure complaints and concerns were responded to appropriately.

There was a registered manager in post when we inspected. They were supported by management staff from one of the provider’s other services in the area, and senior staff who worked at the service. We received good feedback about the way the service was managed, and saw people and staff were given opportunities to meet with the registered manager and discuss improvements to the service.