Updated 2 December 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.
This inspection took place on 19 and 24 October 2017 and was unannounced. An adult social care inspector completed the inspection and was accompanied by an expert-by-experience on the first day. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The expert had experience of learning disabilities.
Prior to our inspection we asked the registered provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the registered provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We looked at the notifications we had received and reviewed all the intelligence CQC held to help inform us about the level of risk for this service. We also spoke with the local authority to gain their views about this service. We reviewed all of this information to help us to make a judgement.
During our inspection we undertook a tour of the service. We used observation to see how people were cared for whilst they were in the communal areas of the service. We watched lunch being served in one dining room. We observed a member of staff giving out medicine. We looked at a variety of records; this included three people’s care records, risk assessments and medicine administration records (MARs). We looked at records relating to the management of the service, policies and procedures, maintenance, quality assurance documentation and the complaints information. We also looked at staff rotas, three members of staff’s training, supervision and appraisal records, as well as recruitment documentation.
We spoke with the registered manager, regional manager, quality assurance manager, estates manager, administrator, three staff and cook. We also spoke with four people who used the service, a visitor and a visiting health care professional. The expert by experience also spoke with two relatives by phone.
Some people living at the service could not tell us about their experiences. We used a number of different methods to help us understand the experiences of the people who used the service including the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experiences of people who could not talk with us. This confirmed that people were supported by staff and provided us with evidence that staff understood people’s individual needs and preferences.