Archived: Prudhoe House

Updated 18 March 2017

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. At our last inspection of this service in December 2015 the provider was found to be in breach of Regulation 11 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. This inspection was undertaken to check that improvements to meet the legal requirements of this regulation, had been made. We inspected the service against two of the five questions we ask about services: is the service effective and is the service well led.

This focused inspection took place on 3 February 2017 and was unannounced. It was carried out by one inspector.

Prior to our inspection we reviewed all of the information that we held about the service within the Commission. We obtained feedback about the service from Northumberland contracts and commissioning team, and Northumberland safeguarding adults team. We used the information that we had gathered and reviewed, to inform the planning of this inspection.

During our inspection we spoke with the registered manager, team leader, one member of the care staff team and one person who used the service. We carried out observations around the premises and reviewed records related to people’s care, staff training and deprivation of liberty safeguards (DoLS).

Updated 18 March 2017

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 21 and 24 December 2015 at which a breach of legal requirements was found. This breach related to Regulation 11 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, entitled Need for consent. After the comprehensive inspection, the provider created an action plan about what steps they would take to meet the legal requirements in respect of this breach.

We undertook this focused inspection to confirm that they have now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Prudhoe House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Prudhoe House is a small residential care home based in Prudhoe, Northumberland. The people accommodated at the service are living with a range of autism spectrum disorders, and/or learning and physical disabilities. People receive 24 hour personal care and support from a team of care staff.

This focused inspection took place on 3 February 2017 and was unannounced. This meant the provider, registered manager and care staff did not know we would be visiting.

At the time of our visit a registered manager was in post who had been registered with the Commission to manage the carrying on of the regulated activity since July 2016. 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 did not review all of the key lines of enquiry in the effective and well led domains. This was because at our last comprehensive inspection, legal requirements in relation to the other regulations that fall within these domains, had already been met and incorporated into the overall rating.

CQC is responsible for monitoring the application of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and deprivation of liberty safeguards (DoLS). In line with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA), we checked to see if the provider had now made applications to lawfully deprive people of their liberty, as these had not been completed at our last inspection. We found that applications had been made to supervisory bodies within the relevant local authorities, and in all but one case, the decisions about these applications were still in progress. A deprivation of liberty order had been authorised for one person in February 2016.

This meant the provider was now meeting the legal requirements of Regulation 11 of the Health and Social Care Act (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. As a result, we have changed the rating in the effective domain from 'Requires Improvement' to 'Good', because the failure to progress DoLS applications, was the only area which fell short of legal requirements at our last visit.

When we visited the home we identified the provider and registered manager had not ensured that the performance rating issued as a result of our comprehensive inspection in December 2015, was displayed for visitors to see. In addition, we established that the provider had not arranged for the last inspection report and performance rating to be accessible on their website. Following this inspection the registered manager has confirmed that the last performance rating issued by the Commission had been displayed within the location and on the provider's website. We have recommended that the provider re-familiarises themselves with the requirements of this regulation.

We also noted at this inspection that in respect of the granted deprivation of liberty order, a statutory notification about this had not been submitted to the Commission in line with the legal requirements of Regulation 18 of the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Requirements 2009. The registered manager apologised for this oversight and has subsequently submitted the required notification retrospectively. We have recommended that the provider re-familiarises themselves with the requirements of this regulation.