Archived: Malbary House

We found the following examples of good practice.

Visitors to the service were required to use hand sanitising facilities and use PPE whilst in the service.

A programme of testing for COVID-19 was in place for all staff and residents.

Stocks of PPE (personal protective equipment) were readily accessible to staff and visitors, and regular checks were made to ensure they were being used.

The service was small, and had not had any cases of Covid-19 with the people living there. People were able to self-isolate in their rooms if necessary.

Systems were in place to ensure staff and visitors to the service were kept up to date with current COVID-19 guidance. Risk assessments were in place regarding infection control.

The service was being regularly cleaned by staff to ensure infection control risks were kept to a minimum.

Staff were trained in infection prevention and control procedures.

Malbary House provides support for up to six people with Learning Disabilities. At the time of the inspection there were five people living at the home. At the last inspection in August 2015, the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found that the service remained Good.

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.

People continued to receive care that was safe. We saw that staff had been appropriately recruited in to the service and security checks had taken place. There were enough staff to provide care and support to people to meet their needs. People were consistently protected from the risk of harm and received their prescribed medicines safely.

The care that people received continued to be effective. Staff had access to the support, supervision, training and on-going professional development that they required to work effectively in their roles. People were supported to maintain good health and nutrition.

People told us their relationships with staff were positive and caring. We saw that staff treated people with respect, kindness and courtesy. People had detailed personalised plans of care in place to enable staff to provide consistent care and support in line with people’s personal preferences.

People knew how to raise a concern or make a complaint and were confident that if they did, the management would respond to them appropriately. The provider had implemented effective systems to manage any complaints that they may receive.

The service had a positive ethos and an open and honest culture. The registered manager and deputy manager were present and visible within the home.

We saw that the staff knew the individual preferences of the people who lived in the home and that care was provided to meet the personal needs of each individual who lived in the home.

We spoke to family members' of people who lived in the home and they told us, 'It is a lovely place for X to live. He is very happy there.'

When we reviewed some of the home's policies we found those which dealt with Record Keeping and Complaints would benefit from review and updating. The Provider agreed to undertake a review and provide more detailed information about thier Complaints and Record Keeping arrangements.

We observed staff talking with and assisting people throughout the day. This was done with the people's privacy and dignity in mind and showed the staff's awareness of peoples individual support needs.

We spoke to people using the service throughout our visit. Some of those had limited communication so we were unable to ascertain what a number people felt about their experiences.

We also looked at the copies of the latest quality assurance questionnaire and people made the following comments (we get) 'A warm greeting every time' (we visit); 'I feel the care plans are extremely good and I don't think I can add to it' and 'We agree the residents are more than happy and get great support to meet every appointment and social activities as well.'

We saw that there were sufficient numbers of staff to care for the people using the service and staff used a number of documents to ensure people's care was appropriate and safe. We looked at the medication system and noted that this was administered appropriately and was secure.

We looked at quality assurance and saw there is a variety of this used to ensure people are safe in the home.