Archived: Turning Point - Clarence House

Updated 2 November 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 13 October 2017 and was announced. We gave the provider 24 hours’ notice as this is a very small service and we needed to be sure the registered manager and staff would be available to speak with us. The inspection was undertaken by one inspector.

As part of our inspection we asked the provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). The PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. Our inspection visit confirmed the information contained within the PIR.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. We looked at information received from external bodies and the statutory notifications the manager had sent us. A statutory notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send to us by law.

We visited the person receiving care from the service in their home and spent a short time observing how they were cared for and how staff interacted with them so we could get a view of the care they received.

We spoke with the registered manager and two staff members. We reviewed one person’s care plans and daily records to see how their support was planned and delivered. We reviewed records of the checks the staff and management team made to assure themselves people received a quality service.

Updated 2 November 2017

Turning point – Clarence House provides 24 hour care and support for one person with a learning disability in their own home.

We visited the offices of Clarence House on 13 October 2017. We gave the provider 24 hours’ notice of our visit due to the very small size of the service. The person who received care had communication difficulties and was not able to tell us about their experiences of care. We were invited to visit the person in their own home during the afternoon of our visit.

We last inspected this service in October 2015 when we rated it as Good. At this inspection we found the same levels of safe, effective and responsive care and the service continues to be rated as Good.

A requirement of the service’s registration is that they have a registered manager. 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 had been in post since September 2017. They had previously managed another home within the provider group so had a good understanding of their legal responsibilities. Staff spoke highly of the new registered manager and felt the changes in management had been implemented smoothly.

A dedicated staff team provided the person who used the service with consistent 24 hour care. All staff had worked with the person for a long time and knew them very well. They valued the person as an individual and were committed to supporting them to live their life as they wished to. Staff took time to listen to the person and supported them to express themselves.

The person who used the service received person centred care with the focus being on them as an individual. They were encouraged and supported to do thing that were important to them at home and in the local community. Records and documents were partly pictorial and accessible to the person so they could be involved in making decisions about their care.

Staff were strong advocates for the person and understood their responsibility to report any concerns they had about the person’s health or wellbeing. Staff worked in accordance with the person’s risk assessments to keep them safe at home and within the community.

The registered manager and staff understood their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the person’s rights were protected in accordance with the Act. Staff offered the person choice and respected their decisions.

With the assistance of staff, the person was able to eat the food they enjoyed and maintain a healthy diet. Staff monitored the person’s health and supported them to access other healthcare professionals when a need was identified. Trained and competent staff gave the person their medicines as prescribed.

Quality assurance systems helped ensure the quality of service was maintained. There was a system of internal audits and checks completed to identify any areas where improvements were required.