Archived: Norwood Trust

Updated 9 June 2017

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.

This inspection was carried out over three days on the 8, 9 and 10 May 2017. Our visit on the 8 May 2017 was unannounced. The inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. On the 9 and 10 May 2017 the inspection team consisted on one adult social care inspector.

Before the inspection, the provider completed 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 reviewed information that we held about the service and the service provider. This included safeguarding and incident notifications that the provider is required to send to the Commission, previous inspection reports and the action plan the Commission received following the last inspection in February 2016.

We sought feedback from Stockport Healthwatch, Stockport’s Local Authority Quality Assurance team and the Control of Infection Unit and they shared reports of their most recent monitoring visits to the service. All information received was positive and no concerns were raised. We considered this information as part of the planning process for this inspection.

During our visits, we spoke with the registered manager, the deputy manager, the administrator, the housekeeper, one of the four trustees, six members of the staff team, eight people living at Norwood Trust and a visiting Healthcare Professional. We also spoke on the telephone with four relatives.

We looked around both buildings and looked in a number of bedrooms, all the communal areas, toilets and bathrooms.

We examined the care records for four people living at Norwood Trust. We reviewed a sample of medicine administration records, the recruitment and supervision records, training records and records relating to the management of the home such as the quality assurance systems.

Updated 9 June 2017

This inspection was carried out over three days on the 8, 9 and 10 May 2017. Our visit on 8 May 2017 was unannounced.

At the last inspection on 16 and 17 February 2016 we rated the service as requires improvement. At that inspection we identified one regulatory breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) 2014, which related to staff not receiving regular on-going training to enable them to maintain their knowledge and skills when carrying out the duties they are employed to perform.

Following the inspection the registered manager sent us an action plan detailing how the identified breach would be addressed. This inspection was to check improvements had been made and to review the ratings.

Norwood Trust was established in 1985, is a registered charity and functions within the regulations of the Charity Commission.

Norwood Trust is a care home providing accommodation without nursing for up to 15 adults, with a learning disability. Eleven people can be accommodated in the main house and four people can live in a purpose built bungalow in the grounds.

Accommodation comprises of all single rooms. No en-suite facilities were provided. Facilities in the main house included a lounge, a lounge/dining room, a bathroom, a walk in wet shower room and three separate toilets. In the bungalow there was a lounge, a kitchen, a laundry room, a separate toilet and a walk in shower room.

There were 15 people living at the home at the time of our inspection.

The home is located in Marple, a suburb of Stockport and is situated within easy walking distance of local services and amenities. The main house is a three storey Victorian semi-detached building.

Since the last inspection in February 2016 the manager had registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and was present throughout the three days of inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with CQC 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 and associated regulations about how the service is run.

At this inspection we found that the breach identified in February 2016 in relation to the gaps in staff training had been met and further improvements had been made to the quality of the service being delivered to people. At this inspection we did not identify any breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

We found the registered manager and the deputy manager were responsive to our feedback and were fully committed to further improving the service delivered to people living at Norwood Trust.

The medicines were managed safely and people were receiving their medicines in line with the prescriber’s instructions.

Staff spoken with understood the need to obtain verbal consent from people using the service before a task or care was undertaken and staff were seen to obtain consent prior to providing care or support.

There were no restrictions in place to prevent people’s movement within the home and we saw people coming and going throughout the three days of inspection.

Although some internal areas of the home were tired and dated in appearance, the home was clean and we saw staff had access to personal protective equipment (PPE) to help reduce the risk of cross infection to people. We saw that some refurbishment had been undertaken since the last inspection and was ongoing to improve the environment for the people living at Norwood Trust.

Detailed and comprehensive care records were in place which reflected peoples identified health care and support needs. Information about people’s dietary requirements, how people wanted to be supported, when support was required and how this was to be delivered were clearly detailed in the care files we examined. We saw that people were encouraged to be as independent as possible and were supported to make choices about how they wanted to live their life.

Since the last inspection the personalised activities that people participated in had been reviewed with the person and some changes had been made based on the preferences expressed by people during the care reviews undertaken. We saw that people were encouraged and supported to undertake a wide range of activities that were of interest to them.

Staff working in the home understood the individual needs of the people who lived there and we saw that care was provided with kindness, respect and dignity. We saw that people who used the service looked clean, well dressed, relaxed and comfortable.

We saw staff had good relationships with people and had an excellent understanding of the individual needs and personal preferences of the people they were caring for.

We saw that there were sufficient numbers of staff on duty at the time of the inspection to provide safe care.

We saw people could make choices about their food and drink and where to eat their meals. We saw a good choice of alternative meals that were available if people did not want what was on the menu.

We saw robust recruitment processes were in place to ensure only suitable staff were employed and staff were receiving on-going supervision and annual appraisals as required.

Staff understood how to recognise and report abuse which helped make sure people were protected.

Newly employed staff undertook a thorough induction process and were enrolled to the Care Certificate framework. This replaces the Common Induction Standards and National Minimum Training Standards.