Background to this inspection
Updated
13 March 2020
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
The inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type
This service provides care 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 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 service.
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 reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We had feedback from the local authority. We 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 of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with seven people who used the service and two relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with six members of staff including the registered manager, senior care worker and care workers.
We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service were reviewed.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.
Updated
13 March 2020
About the service
Fairview Court is an extra care housing scheme. Personal care is provided to tenants by an on-site domiciliary care team managed by Mears Extra Care Limited. There were 24 people receiving the personal care service at the time of this inspection.
Not everyone who lived there received personal care. 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.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were assisted by staff who were kind and helpful. People and relatives said the staff were “very nice”, “very pleasant” and “always willing to do what I need done”. Staff treated people with respect and encouraged them to be independent. Staff were familiar with people’s individual needs and supported them in the way each person preferred.
People said the service was safe. It gave them security to know staff were in the building if they needed help. Staff understood how to keep people safe and how to report any concerns. The provider trained staff in safe working practices for assisting people with personal care and medicines.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff assisted them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service upheld this practice.
People's needs had been assessed. Staff used this information to develop personalised care plans. There were enough staff to assist people. People had a weekly rota, so they knew which staff was coming and when.
People said the service was well-run. They were asked for their views in surveys and the results were positive. People had information about how to raise issues and were comfortable about approaching the management team. Staff said the management team were open and supportive.
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 13 September 2017). Since this rating was awarded the provider has altered its legal entity. We have used the previous rating to inform our planning and decisions about the rating at this inspection.
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.