12 March 2015
During a routine inspection
The inspection visit took place on 12 March 2015 and was unannounced. At the last inspection on 9 November 2013, we found that the provider was meeting the requirements of the Regulations we inspected.
Flint Green House provides residential accommodation and support for up to 15 adults with mental health needs. At the time of our inspection visit, 14 people were living there.
There was a registered manager in post. 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.
People who lived at the home told us they felt secure and safe in the knowledge that staff was available to support them, when they needed to be supported. The provider had systems in place to keep people safe and protected them from the risk of harm and ensured people received their medication as prescribed.
We found that there were enough staff to meet people’s identified needs. The provider ensured staff were safely recruited and they received the necessary training to meet the support needs of people.
The provider acted in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). The provisions of the MCA are used to protect the rights of people who may lack mental capacity to make decisions.
We saw that people were supported to make choices and were free to prepare their own food and drink at times to suit them. People told us they made their own choices about what food to eat. We saw that staff supported people to go shopping and encouraged them to consider healthy options.
People were supported to access other health care professionals to ensure their health care needs were met.
All the people and relatives told us they thought the staff were supportive and caring. We saw that staff was respectful and encouraged people to be as independent as possible.
We found that people’s health care and support needs were assessed and regularly reviewed. People and relatives told us they had no complaints about the service; but if they did, they were confident that they would be listened to and their concerns would addressed quickly.
The provider had established management systems to assess and monitor the quality of the service provided. This included gathering feedback from people who used the service.