Fulwood Court

Updated 12 September 2019

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is bought or rented and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We checked the information that we held about the service. This included statutory notifications sent to us by the provider about incidents and events that had occurred at the service. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. We also gathered feedback about the service from the local authority and used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with five people who lived at the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with four members of staff including the registered manager, senior care worker and other care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 12 September 2019

About the service

Fulwood Court is an apartment complex made up of 33 owned or rented, one or two bedroom apartments. It has a bistro with kitchen and dining areas, a large communal lounge, hairdressing salon and activities.

If needed people can have a domiciliary care package from Fulwood Court to support them with their personal care. Not everyone living at Fulwood Court received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection the service was providing personal care to 10 people.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People told us they felt safe living at Fulwood Court. Comments included, “Oh yes I’m very safe” and “Yes I do feel safe, I get on well with the staff and I trust them.”

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People’s needs were effectively assessed before they were supported by the service and staff worked effectively with other healthcare professionals to ensure people’s health and wellbeing was maintained.

All the people we spoke with gave us positive feedback about the staff at the service and we saw staff knew the people they supported well. People commented, “The staff are good, we have a laugh and a joke” and “The staff are very caring and kind, we can always rely on them.”

People’s care plans reflected their needs and gave staff the information they needed to support them. People and, where appropriate, their relatives were involved in the care planning and review process to ensure people’s care plans were person-centred.

People told us the service was well-led. Comments included, “[Registered manager] is nice and gets things done when you need help” and “It’s a well-managed place, [registered manager] is nice and we know her.” There was a kind and caring culture amongst staff at the service.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 8 February 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.