Archived: Fir Tree Road

Fir Tree Road is registered to provide accommodation with personal care for up to eight people who have learning disabilities and some associated physical or mental health conditions. On the day of our inspection there were six people living at the home. People were aged between 73 and 91 years old. Many of the people living at the home had lived together for 30 years.

The home had 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.

Staff understood their role in safeguarding people and we saw that incidents were being reported where appropriate.

We found that policies and procedures were in place to guide staff in how to keep people safe in the event of emergencies. Fire drills and fire alarm tests were carried out along with regular audits of emergency and contingency planning.

People were administered their prescribed medicines by staff who had received medicines training. Medicines were stored safely and systems were in place to ensure medicine stock could be monitored and audited.

Staff routinely carried out risk assessments and created plans to minimise known hazards whilst encouraging people’s independence.

Staff training was tailored to the individual needs of people who live at the home.

Staff provided care in line with the Mental Capacity Act (2005). Correct procedures were followed when depriving people of their liberty in their best interests.

Staff followed the guidance of healthcare professionals where appropriate and we saw evidence of staff working alongside healthcare professionals to achieve outcomes for people.

People told us that they enjoyed the food people were being provided with choice and also being involved in writing menus.

Information in care plans reflected the needs and personalities of people. People had choice about activities they wished to do and staff encouraged people to pursue new interests.

People were given the opportunity to provide feedback on the care they received through residents

meetings and keyworker sessions. We saw evidence that issues raised by people were responded to by management.

Staff told us that they were well supported by management and had regular supervision.

People and relatives told us that they had a positive relationship with the registered manager.

We have not revisited the service as part of this review because the regional manager Fir Tree Road of was able to demonstrate that they were meeting the standards without the need for a visit.

This is what we found: The provider had confirmed that they had introduced a system to assess and monitor the quality the services provided at Fir Tree Road . The provider supplied us with confirmation that they had completed a process of assessing and monitoring the quality the service after our visit 10 July 2013 and that this was undertaken 27 November 2013.

The Regional Manager stated that all responses from the process was forwarded to providers Quality Team for data analysis and recommendations would be made to individual service as a result of the information received.

We saw that the service had an adult protection policy and procedure in place known as safeguarding. These demonstrated how the provider minimised the risk of abuse for people who lived in the home. We spoke to staff who were aware of the safeguarding procedures in place at 40 Fir Tree Road and within the provider organisation. Staff had training in this area and we saw evidence of this training in staff training and development files. Staff were also aware of other related policies, such as their responsibility for reporting abuse, whistle blowing and deprivation of liberty safeguards.

We saw that the home had a policy and procedure in place for the administration of medication. All staff who administered medication had undertaken medication awareness training and had been assessed competent prior to undertaking this procedure.

The service provider undertakes regular quality audits of the service they produce a report highlighting areas for improvement or commendation. The service has not attempted to gain any feedback from the people who used the service or from any external people who had regular interaction with them.

We found that the home was relaxed and friendly.

We saw that staff treated people with respect and with dignity.

Comments received from the relatives included "their relative was well supported and had developed further and had been enabled to do things for themselves by staff" and that "no matter how small the task the staff help our relative achieve this on their own".

Another relative said "The staff have looked after our relative and when they have been unwell the staff have always called us and the medical emergency services promptly".

Staff received suitable training to ensure that they had the necessary skills to support the people who lived there.

One person said that they " thought there was enough staff on duty" the continued to state that "sometimes there was confusion because of language barriers between their relative and the staff member providing assistance".