This inspection was carried out on the 20 October 2015 and was unannounced. 1 Ridgewood Drive is a purpose built home for up to five people with learning disabilities and complex physical needs. Accommodation is provided over one floor. On the day of our visit four people lived at the service.
There was a registered manager present on the day of our visit. 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.
People’s needs were not always met because there were not enough staff deployed at the service. Although there were enough staff during the week there were often less than the required at weekends.
Accidents and incidents with people were recorded on the service computer with a written copy kept in a file. However it was noted that there was no evidence of the review of these accidents and incidents to identify any trends and what steps were taken reduce the risk of this reoccurring.
Staff had knowledge of safeguarding adult’s procedures and what to do if they suspected any type of abuse. Staff had undergone recruitment checks before they started work.
People’s medicines were administered and stored safely. One member of staff said “I’m trained to give medicines to people, if person refuses the tablets I will leave them and try again later.”
Risks had been assessed and managed appropriately to keep people safe which included the environment. The risk assessments for people were detailed and informative and included measures that had been introduced to reduce the risk of harm.
In the event of an emergency, such as the building being flooded or a fire, there was a service contingency plan which detailed what staff needed to do to protect people and make them safe.
People’s human rights could be affected because the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty (DoLS) were not always followed. There was not enough evidence of mental capacity assessments specific to particular decisions that needed to be made.
People were supported by staff that were knowledgeable and supported in their role. Staff had received all the appropriate training for their role and their competencies were regularly assessed.
One person told us that they enjoyed the meals at the service. They said “I like crumpets with cheese on and I like having chicken curry with poppadum’s, it’s my favourite.” People at risk of dehydration or malnutrition had effective systems in place to support them. However it had been noted that staff were not regularly weighing people.
People had access to a range of health care professionals, such as the Epilepsy nurse, dietician and GP. One health care professional told us that when people visited those staff always came prepared with the correct information and it was clear to them that staff understood people’s support needs and health conditions.
One person that we spoke with told us that the staff were caring. They said “I like it here, it’s a nice house.” Staff interacted with people in a kind and respectful way. One member of staff told us “I love my job, it’s so rewarding, I love caring for people, they (people) become your family.” We saw that staff were caring and respectful of people.
One person told us they were involved in planning their care. We saw that care plans had detail around people’s backgrounds and personal history and included people’s views on what they wanted. Staff knew and understood what was important to the person and supported them to maintain their interests.
People were supported by staff that were given appropriate information to enable them to respond to people effectively. Where it had been identified that a person’s needs had changed staff were providing the most up to date care. People were able to take part in activities which they enjoyed.
One member of staff said “I do think their (people’s) lives are fulfilled, it’s the simple things like going to the pub or going for a coffee.”
One person said if they wanted to make a complaint “If I’m fed up then I would speak to all of them (staff).” There was a complaints procedure in place for people to access if they needed to and this was in a pictorial format for people to understand.
Staff said that they felt supported. One member of staff said that that they felt supported with the management team and when the registered manager was there they could go to them if they needed. However the registered manager had responsibility over three services which meant that staff did not see them regularly.
Systems were in place to monitor the quality of the service that people received. This included audits, surveys and meetings with people and staff.
During the inspection we found breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.