21 November 2018
During a routine inspection
Welcome Independent Living provides personal care for older people and people living with dementia. At the time of our inspection Welcome Independent Living provided personal care for 73 people.
There was 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.
People were asked for consent before care was provided to them. Where people lacked capacity to make certain decisions for themselves, their care records contained evidence that decisions had been made in their best interests. People were supported to have maximum choice and control over their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
The service worked closely with community health professionals to support people with their health needs. People’s care records evidenced they received medical attention when they needed it, to promote their health.
People told us they felt safe. There were mixed views from people and their relatives around if there was enough staff available to meet there needs and if they arrived on time and stayed for the duration of the visit. We spoke to the registered manager about this who told us they had employed more staff and used a tool to show how long staff stayed at each visit. This was evident in the documentation we saw.
Staff understood what it meant to protect people from abuse. They told us they were confident the management team would take any concerns they raised seriously. The registered manager made appropriate referrals to the local safeguarding authority when this was necessary.
Medicines were recorded appropriately and procedures were in place to ensure people received their medicines as prescribed. However, we spoke to the registered manager about the reporting on the medication administration records (MAR) chart and how to ensure this was robust. This was implemented on the first day of inspection.
Procedures for recruiting new staff had recently been improved to help make sure the staff employed at the service were of suitable character.
Staff received a range of training which was effective. Staff told us they were happy with the training they received and felt it supported them to do their roles.
People told us the staff were kind and caring. We saw staff had spot checks and this showed evidence staff were compassionate and caring to people.
Staff were overall supervised by the management team; an appraisal had been completed for some staff, others were booked in for December to ensure all staff had received one this year.
People, their relatives and the staff all spoke kindly of the registered manager. Staff told us they could always approach the registered manager if they needed support or if they had any concerns. The registered manager, the deputy managers and the provider completed regular audits of the service to make sure action was taken and lessons learned when things went wrong. This meant systems were in place to support the continuous improvement of the service.
Further information is in the detailed findings below.