Archived: Hollymere Extra Care Housing Scheme

Updated 2 July 2016

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 team consisted of an adult social care inspector. The inspection took place over two days on the 14 and 15 June 2016.

The provider was given 24 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be in. We also asked the registered provider to seek the consent of people at the service to be contacted by the inspector.

Before the inspection, we asked the provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). This 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.

We also spoke with the commissioners of the service to seek their views. They were complimentary about the care, support and management of the service.

We looked for a variety of records which related to the management of the service such as policies, recruitment, staff supervision and training. We also spoke with the registered manager and five of the staff team. We viewed eight people’s records relating to their care and medication and spoke with seven of them.

Updated 2 July 2016

An announced inspection took place on the 14 and 15 June 2016.

This was the first inspection since the current service provider was registered at the location.

Hollymere Extra Care Housing is purpose built accommodation that is occupied under an agreement which gives exclusive possession of a home with its own front door to the people that live there. The housing provider is Avantage. The accommodation is located in a building that has facilities open to the local community such as a fitness centre, bistro, and library and meeting rooms.

The property is designed to enable and facilitate the delivery of personal care and support to people, now or when they need it in the future. The personal care service is provided by the staff based at the site and they are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This enables support to be delivered at short notice and in an emergency.

There was a registered manager with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

At the time of the inspection the service delivered approximately 320 hours of care to 39 people and wellbeing checks to all of the remaining occupants.

People felt safe with the support they received from staff. There were safeguarding policies and procedures in place. Staff were knowledgeable about what actions they would take if abuse was suspected. Incidents were reported and investigated appropriately.

People said that the support from staff was prompt, caring and reliable. They commented that they were treated with dignity, respect and compassion. Support was provided from a consistent group of staff who knew people them well and met all their physical and emotional needs.

Records kept reflected a person’s preferences, wishes, routines and likes/ dislikes. This demonstrated that staff had taken the time to get to know people well and provided support that was personalised and tailored to individual needs.

Some people were supported to manage their medications. We found that clear and accurate records were being kept of the medicines administered by staff. Care plans and risk assessments supported support the safe handling of people's medications.

Safe recruitment procedures were followed and staff had the relevant checks from the Disclosure and Barring Service. This meant that people were supported by people of suitable character and skill. Staff had been given regular supervision, appraisal and support. Their developmental needs had been identified and they had undertaken training in order to improve their skills and competence.

The registered manager had active involvement in the service. People and staff were complimentary about her leadership. There were systems in place to audit aspects of the service. There had been on-going monitoring of the management of medicines, daily records, care plans, staff performance etc. These audits were used effectively to monitor the quality and effectiveness of the service and to highlight areas of further development. The registered provider had notified the CQC about key events within the service.

The registered provider had recently sent a quality questionnaire to everyone who received a service and these were in the process of being returned: to date positive feedback had been received. People had also been asked about their opinion of the service provided by the care staff in a questionnaire sent by the housing provider and this had been very positive.