26 September 2016
During a routine inspection
The service had a registered manager. 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's support was being provided by the registered manager and the care manager as the service did not currently employ other staff.
People told us they felt safe with the registered manager and the care manager who supported them. They told us that they were looked after well by them and their relatives agreed.
The registered manager and care manager knew their responsibilities for keeping people safe and knew what to do if they were concerned about one of the people using the service.
The risks associated with people’s care and support had been assessed to make sure people were kept safe whenever possible.
The registered manager and care manager understood their responsibilities with regard to people’s medicines though had yet to complete training in this area. This was addressed following our visit.
A recruitment process was in place and this would be followed if a new member of staff were to be recruited. This would make sure that only suitable people worked at the service.
The registered manager and care manager knew the needs of people they were supporting well and provided care and support at agreed times.
An initial assessment of people’s needs had been carried out prior to their care and support commencing and the people using the service had been involved in developing their plan of care.
The registered manager and care manager understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) though had yet to complete training in this subject. People using the service told us that their consent was always obtained before their care and support was provided.
Whilst the registered manager and care manager had completed training in the safeguarding of adults and moving and handling, formal training in safe handling of medicines, food hygiene and MCA had yet to be completed. This was addressed following our visit.
People using the service told us that the registered manager and care manager were kind and caring and they provided their care and support in the way they preferred.
People using the service had been given a copy of the providers complaints policy and they and their relatives knew what to do if they were unhappy with the service they received.
People had the opportunity to be involved in how the service was run. They were able to discuss their views of the service on a daily basis and questionnaires were also used to gain their feedback.
The registered manager and care manager monitored the service on a daily basis so that they could be confident that people received the care and support they needed. The care manager told us that these would be made more formal in future so that they could properly demonstrate the monitoring processes that were in place.