In the autumn of 2011 the 'host authority' Sandwell suspended placements at Hall Green because there were concerns about the care being provided. This suspension was lifted just before our January 2012 visit with applied restrictions. The restriction that applied at the time of our visit was that Hall Green could only admit one new person a week. We carried out a review of this location in October 2011. We found that there was non compliance with a number of outcome areas. Following our review, because we identified so many concerns, we had a meeting with the registered provider. The registered provider gave us assurance that improvements would be made. The management provided us with an action plan confirming how they would make improvements. We carried out our January 2012 review to check that improvements had been made and found that they had.
We revisited the location as part of our January 2012 review, and looked at information we had received about this provider since our last inspection visit of October 2011.
We spent most of our visit time in the lounge areas where we could observe staff interacting with people and daily routines. We saw that people looked so much happier than they did during our previous visit. We saw that people were interacting with staff and each other. People looked much better cared for and were clearly more content.
We spoke with a range of people during our inspection visit. These included; visitors, managers, staff and people who live at the home. Staff told us that there had been improvements in the staffing levels since our last visit. Visitor's and people who live at the location told us they were happy with the care and support provided by the staff.
We spoke with six people who live at the location. Below are a few comments people made;
'Oh yes I like it here. I do like to do things for myself and they let me. I make my own drinks.'
'The staff are very nice. They are kind'.
'The food is very nice'.
We spoke with relatives who were complimentary about the location and care provided. Below are a few things they shared with us;
'My relative was in a different home before. The difference is fantastic. It is totally different here. They are much cleaner and smarter than they were in the previous place'.
'I am very pleased. I am happy with the care that they receive'.
During our January 2012 inspection visit we checked the systems for planning care, documentation and paperwork produced by the provider. We identified that further improvement could be made in record keeping for instance, care planning in behaviour management. This would decrease the risk of people not getting the care they need when they need it.