Archived: The Haven

Updated 14 February 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 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 3 December 2016. The provider was given 24 hours’ notice prior to inspection to ensure we were able to access the service and records on the day of inspection. The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form the provider completes to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. The provider returned the PIR and we took this into account when we made the judgements in this report.

Prior to the inspection, we reviewed information we held about the service including statutory notifications. Statutory notifications are information about specific important events the service is legally required to send to us.

As part of our inspection, we spoke to two people who used the service and three members of staff. We tracked the care and support provided to people and reviewed three care plans relating to this. We also looked at records relating to the management of the home, such as policies, recruitment and training records, meeting minutes and audit reports. We also made observations of the care that people received.

Updated 14 February 2017

We carried out this inspection on 4 December 2016 and it was announced 24 hours beforehand to ensure that staff and records would be available during the inspection. When The Haven was last inspected in December 2015 there were three breaches of the legal requirements identified. These related to Regulation 12 Safe care and Treatment Regulation 11 Consent and Regulation 17 Good Governance. These breaches were followed up as part of our inspection

The Haven provides care and accommodation for up for six people with learning disabilities. On the days of our inspection there were five people living in the service. The provider has informed us that the service will no longer be operating from the location address after March 2017; all people and their relatives have been informed and are being supported to ensure they move to a service of their choice.

There was a registered manager in place at the time of our inspection. 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. The registered manager was unavailable on the day of inspection; another manager who was yet to register with the commission was in attendance instead.

At the time of inspection we checked the service's CQC rating on the provider website. The rating for the last inspection was not displayed conspicuously as required by regulations. On entering the service we also found the rating was not displayed conspicuously within the home.

The provider failed to demonstrate that they had safe and effective recruitment systems in place.

The provider did not have effective systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service.

The provider had not followed the Department of Health (DH) code of practice on the prevention and control of infections. Hygiene practices within the laundry did not meet the DH guidance for the prevention and detection of infection.

Improvement was required in relation to processes for PRN (as required) medicines and medicine competency checks for staff. There were suitable arrangements in place for the safe storage and administration of medicines.

Staff had not received regular supervision; the provider had not ensured that staff performance and progress was monitored effectively and that staff had an opportunity to voice their individual views. We also found that staff training was frequently out of date.

Staffing numbers were sufficient to meet people’s needs and this ensured people were supported safely.

The staff had a clear knowledge of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. These safeguards aim to protect people living in care homes from being inappropriately deprived of their liberty. These safeguards can only be used when a person lacks the mental capacity to make certain decisions and there is no other way of supporting the person safely. Meetings had been arranged in order to enable people’s best interest to be assessed when it had been identified that they lacked the capacity to consent to their care and treatment.

People were supported by the staff to use the local community facilities and had been supported to develop skills which promoted their independence.

People sustained good health by the means of nutritious food and sufficient drinks.

People had access to healthcare professionals when required, and records demonstrated the service had made referrals when there were concerns.

There were positive and caring relationships between staff and people at the service. People praised the staff that provided their care and we received positive feedback from people’s relatives and visitors to the service.

Staff respected people’s privacy and we saw staff working with people in a kind and compassionate way when responding to their needs.

There was a complaints procedure for people, families and friends to use and compliments were also recorded.

We saw that the service took time to work with and understand people’s individual way of communicating in order that the service staff could respond appropriately to the person.

At this inspection we found five breaches of regulations.