Archived: Mencap - Malvern Gate

Updated 18 September 2015

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 1 July 2015. The inspection was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service to one person and we needed to be sure that someone would be in.

The inspection team consisted of two inspectors.

As part of the inspection we reviewed information we held about the service including statutory notifications that had been submitted. Statutory notifications include information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We also spoke with the local authority about information they held about the provider.

We spoke with one person who used the service and one relative. On the day of our inspection the registered manager was not available, however we spoke with the service manager, the assistant service manager and a care staff member and an external professional who was a community learning disability nurse. We reviewed one person’s care record. We also looked at provider audits for environment, medicines and finances. We also looked at the provider’s complaints records and two staff files.

Updated 18 September 2015

This inspection took place on 1 July 2015 and was announced. Malvern Gate registered with the Care Quality Commission in October 2013 and this was the provider’s first inspection. Malvern Gate offers personal care for people who live in their own homes who have a learning disability. There was one person who received personal care on the day of our inspection.

There was a registered manager in place at the time of our inspection. 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 protected from harm as staff knew how to protect them from abuse. People told us that staff supported them when they required it and felt happy with the support they received.

People’s independence with medicines was encouraged in a way that kept people safe.

Care and support was provided to people with their consent. Staff understood and recognised the importance of this. We found people were supported to eat a healthy balanced diet and where concerns about a person’s diet were raised, actions had been taken to support the person. We found that people had access to external healthcare professionals, and staff knew how to contact their doctor should they require them.

We saw that people were involved in the planning around their care. People’s views and decisions they had made about their care were listened and acted upon.

People told us that staff treated them kindly, with dignity and their privacy was respected. People were able to determine who came into their home and when. We found that staff respected people’s choice to do this.

We found that people knew how to complain and felt comfortable to do this should they felt needed to. Where the provider had received complaints, these had been responded to. Learning had been taken from complaints received and actions were put into place to address these.

The provider demonstrated clear leadership. Staff were supported to carry out their roles and responsibilities effectively, which meant that people received care and support in-line with their needs and wishes.