Archived: Darcy House

Updated 28 January 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 8 December 2016 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be in.

The inspection team consisted of one inspector and an expert by experience. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we already held about this service. This included details of its registration, previous inspection reports and any notifications they had sent us. We contacted the local authority in which the service is located to seek their views about the service.

During the inspection we spoke with eight people that used the service and one relative. We spoke with four staff. This included three support workers and the registered manager. We looked at four sets of records relating to people including care plans and risk assessments. We looked at five sets of staff recruitment, training and supervision records and medicines charts. We examined minutes of meetings and records of the quality assurance systems used at the service. We checked various policies and procedures including the complaints and safeguarding adult’s procedures.

Updated 28 January 2017

The inspection took place on the 8 December 2016 and was announced. At the previous inspection of this service in November 2015 we found two breaches of regulations. This was because the provider had not notified us of safeguarding allegations and there were not enough staff working at the service. During this inspection we found they now informed the Care Quality Commission of safeguarding allegations in line with their legal duty to do so. However, we found there were still not enough staff working at the service.

Darcy House is part of a community service provided by Triangle Community Services Limited. They provide an extra care service to people who are tenants at Darcy House, which is a sheltered housing unit. The service offers individuals personal care, support and 'extra care' they require to continue to live independently. Thirty two people were using the service at the time of our inspection.

The service had a registered manager in place. 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.

We found four breaches of regulations during this inspection. There were not enough staff working at the service and staff did not receive one to one supervision in line with the provider’s policy. Medicine records were not always completed accurately. Quality assurance and monitoring systems did not always identify issues of concern at the service You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this report.

The service had safeguarding procedures in place to help protect people from the risk of abuse. Risk assessments were in place which set out how to support people in a safe manner. Robust staff recruitment procedures were in place to help ensure suitable staff were employed.

Staff undertook an induction training programme on commencing work at the service and received on-going training after that. People were able to make choices for themselves where they had the capacity to do so and the service operated within the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Where people were supported with food preparation they were able to choose what they ate and drank. People were supported to access relevant health care professionals.

People told us they were treated with respect and that staff were caring. Staff had a good understanding of how to promote people’s privacy, independence and dignity.

People’s needs were assessed before they began using the service. Care plans were in place which set out how to meet people’s individual needs. The service had a complaints procedure in place and people knew how to make a complaint.

Staff and people spoke positively about the registered manager. Systems were in place to seek the views of people on the running of the service.