Background to this inspection
Updated
8 March 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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team:
The inspection was carried out by two inspectors and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using similar services.
Service and service type:
Frindsbury House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.
The service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission when we inspected. The registered manager left in January 2019. This means that the provider was legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection:
This was a comprehensive inspection, which took place on 12 February 2019 and was unannounced.
What we did:
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection in January 2018. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse or when a person dies. We assessed the information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection we spoke to seven people using the service, two visiting relatives, three care staff, health supervisor, deputy manager who was also acting manager. We also spoke with the head of care, quality and compliance, the head of business and corporate affairs and the chief executive. We also requested feedback from a range of healthcare professionals involved in the service. We received feedback from four local authority care managers.
We reviewed a range of records. This included four people's care records and medication records. We also looked at four staff files including their recruitment, supervision and training records. We reviewed records relating to the management of the service and a variety of policies and procedures implemented by the provider. We also looked at other records the provider kept, such as meetings with people and surveys they completed to share their views.
Updated
8 March 2019
About the service: Frindsbury House provides care and support for up to 23 people with a range of physical disabilities including Huntington's disease and also caters for people with learning disabilities. At the time of our inspection, 22 people were using the service.
People’s experience of using this service: The service had improved since we last inspected it. Everyone we spoke with was positive in their feedback. Comments included; “I feel good living here”, “The staff do a good job” and “I wouldn’t change anything. I would recommend the home to people like me.”
People were safe at Frindsbury House. Staff knew what their responsibilities were in relation to keeping people safe from the risk of abuse. The provider followed safe recruitment practices. One person said, “I am safe because the carers care for us. If I have little worries, the staff talk to me.”
Staff encouraged people to actively participate in activities, pursue their interests and to maintain relationships with people that mattered to them. They felt a part of their local community and were supported to use local resources to their advantage.
Staff understood the importance of promoting people’s choices and provided the support people required while promoting and maintaining independence. This enabled people to achieve positive outcomes and promoted a good quality of life.
People were involved in the running of the service and were consulted on key issues that may affect them.
People received the support they needed to stay healthy and to access healthcare services. Each person had an up to date support plan, which set out how their care and support needs should be met by staff. These were reviewed regularly.
Rating at last inspection: Requires Improvement (Report published 28 March 2018)
Why we inspected: At our last inspection, we found five breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. These breaches were in relation to the risk of abuse that was not always minimised. The management of medicines was not always safe and there were inconsistent processes in the medicines' management documentation. The provider had not carried out sufficient checks to explore the staff members' employment history to ensure they were suitable to work with people who needed safeguarding from harm. Records relating to drinks people had were not accurate or complete. Audit systems were in place but identified actions had not been completed and records were not always complete, accurate and robust.
We asked the registered provider to take action to meet the regulations. We received an action plan on 2 March 2018, which stated that the registered provider would take action to meet the regulations by 30 May 2018.
At this inspection, we found that improvements had been made in relation the five requirements made above.
Follow up: We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive. We will carry out another scheduled inspection to make sure the service continues to maintain a Good rating.