21 August 2017
During a routine inspection
30 Keepers Crescent provide care and accommodation for up to five people with a learning disability. There were five people living in the home on the day of the inspection and 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. At the time of our last inspection the service was providing a good quality of service. At this inspection they continue to do so.
Although safe staffing numbers were maintained the skills mix, due to staffing shortages, impacted upon people’s current opportunities to receive a responsive service.
People were supported safely. Staff had a good understanding of potential abuse and knew how to protect people from the risk of harm. Risks were identified and well managed in order to keep people safe. Staff were confident they could safely manage behaviours of concern. Consistency and good routines helped people feel safe and secure. Staff were recruited through safe recruitment practices meaning that only people suitable to work in the role were appointed.
People were protected by safe systems in place to enable them to receive their medicines safely.
People were supported by staff who had the knowledge and skills to provide effective support. Staff received good training opportunities and training had been developed around the individual needs of the people who used the service. Staff felt very well supported by the registered manager and their colleagues.
Staff knew people well and communicated effectively with people. Staff worked well as a team to meet people’s complex and changing needs.
People enjoyed a balanced and healthy diet. Staff were creative to offer variety and choices.
People’s constantly changing health care needs were met and staff worked closely with healthcare professionals to ensure people’s conditions were identified and managed.
People were supported by staff who were kind and caring. People were encouraged to express their individuality and be as independent as they were able. People were supported to develop and maintain friendships and personal relationships. People’s privacy and dignity was respected and promoted and people knew how they should be treated.
People were at the heart of the service delivery and support was centred on people’s individual needs and wishes. People had experienced a number of health challenges and staff had responded to these positively and proactively.
Support was very person centred and records detailed people’s life histories, hopes and dreams as well as their support needs.
People were confident that their complaints would be listened to, taken seriously and acted on.
The service was well led. The provider, as an organisation, was looking at innovative ideas to improve the service. Staff felt consulted, involved and valued. People’s relatives were regularly asked for their views about the quality of the service and reviews of care and support identified that people were receiving a good service. There were systems in place to monitor practices and processes. The environment required improvement in some areas and the registered manager was actively addressing this.