22 August 2016
During a routine inspection
This inspection found that there were breaches of three regulations. These related to the management of medicines, governance of the service and the reporting of statutory notifications.
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. The registered manager was one of the two partners in the business.
There were no policies or procedures to guide staff on the safe management and administration of people’s medicines. Both partners were unaware of medicines guidance that the commissioning local authority would expect the service to adhere to. The level of assistance people needed with their medicines had not been assessed and senior staff were advised that they were able to give permission for staff to administer non-prescribed medicines. These shortfalls put people at risk of the unsafe administration of medicines.
The level of regulatory knowledge of both partners was not sufficient to ensure that the service was operated in accordance with legislatory requirements. The manager was unaware that they needed to report safeguarding concerns to CQC.
You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.
Some improvements were required to ensure that risks to people’s wellbeing were identified and some care plans required personalisation. This would help staff meet and understand people’s needs more effectively.
People and their relatives told us they felt safe with the staff who provided their care and support. Staff were aware of their responsibilities in protecting people from harm and knew how to report any concerns about people’s safety to the local authority’s safeguarding team.
People were supported by staff who they liked and who made them feel comfortable. People and their relatives described staff as caring and told us they received a high standard of care.
Everyone we spoke with expressed their confidence in the management of the service. People using the service, relatives and staff told us they were able to give feedback about the service and were confident they would be listened to.
The management team promoted strong organisational values. They promoted a caring culture that put the needs of people using the service uppermost. They were supportive of their staff and staff enjoyed working for the service.