Background to this inspection
Updated
8 May 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.
The inspection took place on 21 January 2015. We gave 24 hours' notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we wanted to ensure the registered manager was available. We also wanted to arrange to visit some of the houses where people supported by the service lived. The inspection was carried out by an inspector from the adult social care directorate of the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Prior to the inspection the service had submitted a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.
We also contacted the officer of Trafford Council who had oversight of the council's contracts with the service.
On the day of the inspection we talked with the registered manager and the deputy manager about the management of the service and related issues. Then we visited three of the six houses where people supported by the service were living. We talked with five people in these three houses, and with a member of staff in each house. We looked at four care files. We also looked at other records relating to recruitment, training, audits and staff meetings. We took away copies of some documents we had requested. We discussed our findings with the registered manager and the deputy manager.
After the inspection we spoke with two relatives of people supported by the service. We also spoke with the reviewing officer of the Trafford Community Learning Disabilities Team who had specific responsibility for assessing this service.
Updated
8 May 2015
We inspected Premier Care Limited - Trafford & Manchester Learning Disabilities Branch on 21 January 2015. We gave 24 hours' notice of the inspection.
The previous inspection had taken place on 16 April 2013 when we found no breaches of the regulations we looked at.
The service supported people with learning disabilities who live in six separate houses around Trafford. At the time of our inspection 13 people were being supported by the service.
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.
Each house had one member of staff on duty supporting up to three people. Sometimes the staff worked very long shifts including a night shift when they could sleep. Staff members told us the long shifts did not affect their ability to provide care and support.
Checks on new staff were conducted. Staff were well trained in all areas including safeguarding. Medication was administered safely.
We considered that one person's freedom was being restricted without their consent. We understood the restriction was intended for the person's benefit and safety. Nevertheless this was a breach of a regulation made under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, regarding obtaining and acting in accordance with consent. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the end of the full version of the report.
We saw that staff had built up caring relationships with the people they were supporting, in some cases over many years. People were encouraged to become more independent.
A wide variety of activities was available. Some people were encouraged to work in the community.
The registered manager involved staff in generating improvements. However, the questionnaires used for staff and also the questionnaires used for people using the service and their relatives needed improvement. There were monthly reviews by the directors but no evidence of these was made available. Trafford Council was intending to change the provider of the service, but this was not related to any performance issues of the current provider.