Archived: Disabilities Trust - 3 Water Meadows

Updated 20 June 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 checked 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 May 2017 and was completed by one adult social care inspector.

We gave short notice to say we were inspecting because it is a small service and we needed to ensure people would be available to speak to.

Prior to the inspection we checked information we held on our systems. This included reviewing statutory notifications which had been submitted to us. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to tell us about by law.

At the time of this inspection, two people were living at the service; we met and spoke with both people. We also met with two support staff and spoke with the registered manager before and after the inspection. We spent time observing the interactions between people who used the service and staff. We looked at two people’s care records, medicines records, staffing rotas and records which related to how the provider monitored the quality of the service. We did not look at staff recruitment records as no new staff had been recruited since our last inspection. At that inspection staff recruitment was robust.

Updated 20 June 2017

3 Water Meadows provides accommodation for two people with an acquired brain injury. The service operates in partnership with The Woodmill, an acute rehabilitation service, which forms part of the nationwide rehabilitation support services provided by The Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust (BIRT). People using this service are supported with their rehabilitation by the therapy and clinical teams at The Woodmill.

This focused inspection took place on 19 May 2017 and short notice was given to the registered manager. This was because it is a small service and we needed to ensure people would be available to speak to. At the last inspection, in August 2016, the service was rated overall as good, with safe rated as requires improvement as we found a breach of regulations in relation to infection control practice. At this inspection we found the provider had taken action to address the issue. This meant the service remained rated overall as good, and the safe domain was also rated as good.

A registered manager was in place. The registered manager was also registered as the manager of two other small community based residential services. They divided their working hours between the services. 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 was not present during this inspection.

The service was safe and clean and action had been taken to reduce the risk of infection. The washing machine and tumble drier had been relocated to an enclosed utility area outside the kitchen. This meant staff were not accessing the kitchen with soiled laundry, which greatly reduced the risk infection.

People felt safe living at the service. They said staff were kind, caring and friendly and everyone got along well together. One person said, “I am safe and perfectly happy…” Another said, “I get on with staff and they keep me safe.”

There were enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff to meet people’s daily care and support needs. The registered manager was liaising with commissioners to increase funding for additional staff hours to enable people to have more individual social activities.

Risks to people’s health and safety had been assessed and measures were in place to reduce any risk without restricting people’s freedom and independence. People’s medicines were safely managed. Staff had received training in the safe administration, storage and disposal of medicines.

People were protected by the provider’s systems for safeguarding them against abuse or neglect. Staff understood what they needed to do to keep people safe and report any concerns.

The provider operated safe recruitment processes to ensure only staff that were suitable to work with vulnerable people were employed.