Archived: Meadowsweet

Meadowsweet is a residential home providing personal care to people with a learning disability. Meadowsweet accommodates up to 6 people in one adapted building.

The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence.

People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People were safe and there were enough staff to meet their needs. The premises were well maintained, and any incidents or accidents were appropriately investigated. Staff understood how to safeguard people and action was taken to mitigate risks to people. We have made a recommendation about the management of ‘as needed ‘medicines and assessment of staff competency.

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. People received support to meet any healthcare or nutritional needs. People’s needs were appropriately assessed and the home environment was catered to meet people’s needs.

The home was caring, with staff knowing people’s needs well. People were treated with dignity and respect and involved in decisions about their care. Staff encouraged people to be as independent as possible and carry out day to day tasks for themselves.

The home was responsive to people’s needs and ensured they were enabled to participate in meaningful activity that was important to them. An appropriate complaints policy was in place for people, relatives and other stakeholders to raise any concerns. People’s end of life wishes were discussed where appropriate.

The management of the home was robust in ensuring that there was suitable day to day oversight. Relatives and staff were positive about the management of the home. The registered manager understood their responsibilities and ensured consistency of care.

The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence.

The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 28 January 2017)

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

At the last Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in May 2015, the service was rated Good overall but we rated the service requires improvement for the key question, ‘is the service well led?’ We did not find the service in breach of regulations but the registered manager’s understanding of their legal obligation to submit notifications of events or incidents at the service to CQC needed to improve.

At this inspection we found the service remained Good. Improvement had been made to the well led question. The registered manager submitted notifications about events and incidents at the service without delay. We have revised the rating for the well led question to Good. The service demonstrated they met the regulations and fundamental standards.

People continued to be safe at Meadowsweet. Since our last inspection improvements had been made to fire safety arrangements in the home. The provider had also introduced new systems to check water hygiene in the home to reduce the risks to people from water borne infections. The environment was clean and staff demonstrated good awareness of the importance of infection control and hygiene in the home. The premises and equipment were regularly maintained and serviced to ensure these were safe. Medicines were managed safely and people received them as prescribed.

Staff knew how to protect people from the risk of abuse or harm. They followed appropriate guidance to minimise identified risks to people's health, safety and welfare. There were enough staff to keep people safe. The provider had appropriate arrangements in place to check the suitability and fitness of new staff.

Each person had an up to date, personalised support plan, which set out how their care and support needs should be met by staff. These were reviewed regularly. Staff received regular training and supervision to help them to meet people’s needs effectively. They communicated with people using their preferred methods of communication. This helped them to develop good awareness and understanding of people's needs, preferences and wishes.

People were supported to eat and drink enough to meet their needs. They also received the support they needed to stay healthy and to access healthcare services. Staff encouraged people to actively participate in activities, pursue their interests and to maintain relationships with people that mattered to them.

Staff were caring and treated people with dignity and respect and ensured people’s privacy was maintained particularly when being supported with their personal care needs. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The registered manager provided good leadership. They checked staff were focussed on people experiencing good quality care and support. People and staff were encouraged to provide feedback about how the service could be improved. This was used to make changes and improvements that people wanted. The provider ensured the complaints procedure was made available in an accessible format if people wished to make a complaint. Regular checks and reviews of the service continued to be made to ensure people experienced good quality safe care and support.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

During our last inspection of the service in December 2012, we identified essential standards of quality and safety were not being met in respect of Regulations 9 and 22 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010. Following that inspection we asked the provider to take appropriate action to achieve compliance with these regulations.

The provider sent us an action plan on 7 February 2013 setting out the actions they would take to achieve compliance with these regulations. During this inspection we checked these actions had been completed.

We looked at people's records and saw plans were in place to meet their care and support needs. Risks to their health, safety and welfare had been identified and plans were in place to manage these. From the records we looked at these had been reviewed and updated regularly so that staff had up to date information about people's current care and support needs. There were enough staff to meet these needs.

Other records kept by the provider in relation to staff and the management of the service were kept securely and appropriately maintained.

Although we saw that care was planned and delivered based on peoples individual needs, we found evidence that individual risks to the health, safety and wellbeing of people using the service had not been considered or assessed on a regular basis. We also found that appropriate steps had not been taken by the provider to ensure appropriate levels of staff worked in the home, particularly during the latter part of the day.

Staff received training to keep their skills and knowledge up to date. The provider carried out regular checks within the home to make sure the environment was safe for people using the service.