Archived: Elora House

Updated 12 January 2016

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 took place on 8 and 15 December 2015. The provider was given 24 hours’ notice because the location was a small care home for adults who are often out during the day; we needed to be sure that someone would be in.

The inspection was undertaken by two inspectors. Before we visited the service we checked the information that we held about the service and the service provider. No concerns had been raised and the service met the regulations we inspected at their last inspection which took place in April 2014. We reviewed the information we held about the service which included any notifications and safeguarding alerts. We also contacted two local authority contracts and commissioning teams that have placements at the service and the local authority safeguarding team.

During our inspection we observed how the staff interacted with people who used the service. We looked at how people were supported during our inspection. We spoke with three people who lived in the service. On the day of the inspection we spoke the deputy manager. The registered manager was unavailable due to personal circumstances. Following the inspection we spoke with two support workers. We looked at three care plans, staff duty rosters, six staff files, a range of audits, complaints folder, minutes for various meetings, medicines records, staff training records, accidents & incidents, health and safety folder, and policies and procedures for the service.

Updated 12 January 2016

We inspected Elora House on 8 and 15 December 2015. This was an announced inspection. The service met the regulations we inspected at the last inspection in April 2014. Elora House is a care home providing personal care and accommodation for three people with a learning disability. The service is registered for three people. The service is a large property arranged over two floors. All bedrooms are single occupancy. At the time of the inspection they were providing personal care and support to three people.

There was a registered manager at the service at the time of our inspection. 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.

We found four breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

People were not always kept safe at the service. Records relating to criminal records checks showed that some staff who had been working at the service for a number of years had not had checks within the last three years. The checks help providers make safer recruitment decisions and prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups. This meant people may be at risk of receiving care and support from unsuitable staff. Risk assessments were not up to date and did not address the risk associated with certain medical conditions for some people using the service which put people at risk of harm.

Staff did not receive regular training to enable them to carry out their role effectively. The systems in place to monitor the safety and quality of the service provided were not always robust.

You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report. Please note that the summary section will be used to populate the CQC website. Providers will be asked to share this section with the people who use their service and the staff that work at there.

The staff were knowledgeable in recognising signs of abuse and knew how to report concerns. Incidents were reported and managed in an appropriate way. We found people were cared for by sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, skilled and experienced staff.

People were provided with a choice of food and drinks ensuring their nutritional needs were met.

People’s needs were assessed and care and support was planned and delivered in line with their individual care needs. The care plans contained information setting out how each person should be supported to ensure their needs were met. Care and support was tailored to meet people’s individual needs and staff knew people well.

Staff had good relationships with people living at the service. We observed interactions between staff and people living in the service and staff were caring and respectful to people when supporting them.

Staff knew how to respect people’s privacy and dignity. People were supported to attend meetings where they could express their views about the service.

People who lived at the service and staff felt comfortable about sharing their views and talking to the manager if they had any concerns. Staff told us the manager was always supportive. Staff demonstrated they had an awareness of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.