21 January 2015
During a routine inspection
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.