About the service:

This service is an extra care facility which provides personal care to people in 'supported living' accommodation within 21 purpose built flats in Alexandra Court. One of the flats is used for respite (short-term) care. At the time of our visit 16 people were being supported with personal care.

People’s experience of using this service:

People supported by the service and their relatives consistently told us the registered manager and staff who supported them were polite, reliable, caring and professional in their approach to their work. They spoke positively about the quality of service provided. One relative told us, “This is a nice place to be. It is fabulous and we are never disappointed. Our relative is safe; cared for whilst remaining independent. The staff are good, caring people. We couldn’t wish for any better."

People’s care and support had been planned proactively and in partnership with them. People felt consulted and listened to about how their care would be delivered. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible.

The service worked in partnership with healthcare professionals and families to ensure people’s health care needs were met. People were supported to attend healthcare appointments to ensure their health and wellbeing was maintained.

Each flat had its own kitchen area and people could be supported to cater for themselves within their flat. However we saw that everyone chose to prepare their own breakfast and attended the dining room for lunch and evening meals which had been prepared by the service.

Staff retention was very good and people told us they were supported by staff who knew and consistently met their needs. Staffing levels were continuously reviewed to ensure there were enough staff to provide a flexible and responsive care. People supported by the service and their relatives consistently told us they felt safe. One person told us, “Its peace of mind.”

There had not been any safeguarding incidents or complaints since the last inspection. However policies and procedures were in place and the registered manager understood the actions to take should there be any incidents.

The registered provider and the registered manager used a variety of methods to assess and monitor the quality of the service. This enabled Alexandra Court to be monitored and improve areas that were identified through their quality monitoring processes.

Rating at last inspection:

Good (Report published 19 March 2016)

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection. Ongoing monitoring included information that quality had improved. We checked this in looking at the quality and safety of the service.

Follow up:

The next scheduled inspection will be in keeping with the overall rating. We will continue to monitor information we receive from and about the service. We may inspect sooner if we receive concerning information about the service.

Alexandra Court is an extra care facility which provides personal care to people in 'supported living' accommodation within purpose built flats. At the time of our visit 19 people were being supported with personal care. This was the first ratings inspection for the service.

We visited Alexandra Court on 18 & 19 February 2016. We told the provider before the visit we were coming so they could arrange for staff and people who were supported at Alexandra Court to be available to talk with us.

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.

People told us they felt safe using the service and care workers understood how to protect people from abuse. Risks to people were assessed, and care plans informed staff how to keep people safe. However some risk assessments did not provide staff with the detailed information needed to safely manage people’s identified risks. We raised this with the registered manager who told us how they were going to ensure risk assessments were effective.

Background checks were carried out on care workers to ensure their suitability to work with people who used the service. There were enough suitably trained care workers to deliver care and support to people.

People had care workers they were familiar with, and who knew how to meet their needs in the ways they chose. People told us staff knew them and their routines well.

People told us care workers were kind and caring and had the right skills and experience to provide the care and support they required. They told us staff treated them with dignity and ensured their privacy and dignity was maintained.

People received their medicines safely and as prescribed from staff trained to administer them. The management team checked that staff remained competent to do this and any medicine concerns were used as an opportunity for learning.

The registered manager understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA), and care workers respected people’s decisions and obtained people’s consent before they provided personal care.

People told us they knew how to complain and who to contact if they had any concerns. Care workers were confident they could raise any concerns with the registered manager, knowing they would be listened to and it would be acted upon.

There were processes to monitor the quality of the service provided and understand the experiences of people who used the service. This was through regular communication with people and staff, returned surveys, spot checks on care workers and other checks and audits.

When we visited the service 19 people were receiving personal care. We spoke with two people who used the service and one of the two staff members who were supporting them. We also looked at records and documentation. A person who used the service told us, "They really meet all my needs.”

People who used the service were involved in planning their care. They were supported to make choices about the care they received. Where decisions were made on a person's behalf they were done so with their agreement and in their best interest.

Care was planned and designed to meet the individual health and welfare needs of the people who used the service. A person we spoke to expressed confidence that their care was planned, managed and delivered with dignity in the way that was promised.

We found that people were cared for by staff who were supported to deliver care and treatment safely and to an appropriate standard. A member of staff told us, "I feel I can discuss anything with my manager".

The provider was able to protect people from unsafe care and treatment by regularly assessing and monitoring the quality of the service provided.

We visited Alexandra Court on 12 July 2012. There were fourteen people with licence agreements living there. No one knew we would be visiting.

The manager was absent on the day of our visit. We spoke with two care staff, two of the people who used the service and one relative. Most comments were positive. One person said, “I am lucky to be here. I never thought I would be in a home, but I am grateful I am.”

People who lived at Alexandra Court had the choice of extra personal care being delivered by staff there or by external agencies.

Care records contained sufficient information to enable carers to provide people with personal care that met their needs.

Care workers had received training in safeguarding vulnerable adults and understood the need to report concerns.

People’s personal care needs were being met by sufficient numbers of appropriately qualified and trained staff.

People were regularly consulted as to the quality of the care they received and the service provided.

Alexandra Court is registered for the regulated activity of providing personal care. On our visit we saw there were aspects of the service provided that were more in line with the regulated activity of providing accommodation with personal care. Following our visit we reviewed the appropriate regulated activity for Alexandra Court. We concluded that personal care is currently the correct regulated activity. The provider however needs to ensure that the service provided remains personal care and does not move further towards a care home model.