Background to this inspection
Updated
16 February 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.
This inspection took place on 30 November 2015 and was unannounced and carried out by one inspector.
Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service including previous reports and notifications. We also reviewed safeguarding alerts and information received from a local authority and other Commissioners. Notifications are important events that the service has to let the Care Quality Commission know about by law.
We spoke with one person who used the service and one relative as a number of the people living in the service were not able to verbally communicate with us. As most people who use the service were unable to tell us about their experience directly however staff were able to communicate with them using gestures and reading body language.
We observed the interactions between people and staff at various times throughout the day to help us understand their experience.
We observed staff supporting people to prepare for activities and complete daily living tasks. We also spoke with the manager, deputy manager and five care staff. We reviewed three people’s care files. We also looked at quality monitoring, audit information and policies held at the service and the service’s staff support records for four members of staff.
Updated
16 February 2016
This inspection took place on the 30 November 2015.
Phoenix House is a residential care service registered to provide personal care for up to nine people with learning disabilities and on the autism spectrum. At the time of our visit there were nine people residing in the service.
The service has a registered manager. 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 a legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
Suitable arrangements were in place to ensure that people received appropriate care and support to meet their needs. Staff knew the needs of the people they supported and they were treated with respect and dignity. People’s healthcare needs were well managed and they had access to a range of healthcare professionals.
People’s needs were met by sufficient numbers of staff. Suitable arrangements were in place to ensure that staff had been recruited safely; they received opportunities for training and supervision.
People were safeguarded from harm; Staff had received training in Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and had knowledge of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). The manager and staff had good knowledge of how to assess and identify people who meet the criteria for DOLS application and appropriate applications had been made to the Local Authority.
People had sufficient amounts to eat and drink to ensure that their dietary and nutritional needs were met.
People were provided with the opportunity to participate and engage in activities of their choice which met their needs. Relatives and people who used the service knew how to make a complaint and we felt reassured that all complaints would be dealt with and resolved efficiently and in a timely manner.
The service had a number of ways of gathering people’s views which included holding meetings with people, staff, and relatives. The manager carried out a number of quality monitoring audits to help ensure the service was running effectively and to help them make improvements.