Updated 26 October 2017
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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 comprehensive inspection took place on 6 and 8 September 2017 and it was unannounced on day one and announced on day two.
The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector and an expert-by-experience on day one and by an adult social care inspector on day two. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The expert-by-experience who assisted with this inspection had knowledge and experience relating to older people.
We looked at information we held about the service, which included notifications sent to us since the last inspection. Notifications are when providers send us information about certain changes, events or incidents that occur within the service. We also contacted North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) safeguarding and commissioning teams. We asked the registered provider to submit a provider information return (PIR) and this was returned within the agreed timescale. The PIR is a form that asks the registered provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. The information we gathered was used to plan this inspection.
At this inspection we spoke with the provider / manager, two visiting healthcare professionals and two members of staff. We spoke with eight people who used the service and one relative. People who used the service all had capacity and were able to provide us with feedback. We observed staff interactions with people and the level of support provided to people throughout the day.
We looked at two people’s care records, including their initial assessments, care plans, reviews, risk assessments and medication administration records (MARs). We also looked at a selection of documentation pertaining to the management and running of the service. This included quality assurance information, audits, stakeholder surveys, recruitment information for three members of staff, staff training records, policies and procedures and records of maintenance carried out on equipment.