About the service Ansell Court is an extra care scheme. It is a block of 53 self-contained flats. This service is a new purpose-built property for people who are aged 55 and over, providing care and support to those who need it due to age or disability. At the time of the inspection there were 41 people living in the service.
Ansell Court is fully accessible for people using wheelchairs. There is 24-hour staffing.
The provider is Your Choice (Barnet) Ltd - a social care local authority trading company (LATC) based in North London and part of a larger organisation called The Barnet Group.
Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The feedback from people using the service and their friends and families was generally good about the quality of care and support provided to them.
Some people who had raised concerns or complaints were not happy about the outcome or did not fully understand the outcome despite an investigation taking place.
The service identified risks relating to people’s health and care needs and there was guidance in place on how to minimise the identified risks for people. Their care and support needs were written in a care plan which they agreed to and staff followed the plans in order to provide the right support to people.
People received their medicines safely and as prescribed. There were some minor recording errors which had not been identified during audits so that learning could take place.
There was a safe recruitment policy and procedure to ensure staff recruited were suitable people to work in the service.
There were increased infection control measures in place in response to the coronavirus outbreak. The provider reacted appropriately to keep people safe, but most staff had not received infection control training. The registered manager arranged this training immediately after our inspection. Staff had appropriate personal protective equipment and knew how to use it safely.
Fire safety was a concern as some staff were overdue with completing essential fire safety training. This was addressed immediately following feedback from our inspection.
Staff had regular supervision to help them to carry out their role effectively. Those who had been employed for a year had also had an appraisal. Staff told us that they felt supported, worked well as a team and found the manager helpful and approachable.
Staff supported people with their nutritional needs when needed. This ranged from helping with food shopping and cooking to helping people to eat and drink.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
Most relatives felt engaged with the service and confirmed that they received regular updates and feedback about their relative. However, some relatives did comment that communication between them, and the service could be improved. We gave this feedback to the registered manager who agreed to act on it.
The registered manager listened to feedback from people and people were empowered to take part in the running of the service for example setting up a gym in the service.
There were regular health and safety, care and records audits to help the management team and the provider have a good oversight of the quality and safety of the service and identify improvements where needed. Some audits did not contain enough detail for us to see which records had been checked.
We have identified one breach of regulation in relation to how the provider communicated the outcome of concerns and complaints to people at this inspection. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
We have made two recommendations to the provider. One is to improve the recording of medicines and the other is to improve some audits.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
This service was registered with us on 5 February 2019 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
We carried out an focused inspection of this service. The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about infection control. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. We did not find serious concerns about infection control in the service. We inspected and widened the scope of the inspection to become a comprehensive inspection.
Follow up
We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.