About the service:

United Response -The Swallows 183 -189 Hanworth Road is a residential care home that provides personal care and accommodation for up to six older people some of whom have learning and physical disabilities and mental health care needs. At the time of this inspection six people were using the service.

People’s experience of using this service:

• Staff required training in mental health and learning disabilities and the management team agreed to address this immediately. We made a recommendation about this.

• Risks related to people's health and safety were identified and provided guidance for staff on how to mitigate the potential risks to people. However, information was not included on how the risks impacted on people and the registered manager said they will update the risks assessments to reflect this.

• Staff’s employment contracts and recruitment data were taken over from the former provider which was sufficient to ensure that staff were fit for their role. However, some staff required their criminal record checks to be updated and the registered manager had requested for this to be done.

• People raised concerns with the staff team if they had any. At the time of inspection, the registered manager took action to ensure that people were provided with an easy to read complaints procedure.

• The service had not yet discussed end of life care wishes with people, but told us they planned to do so.

• The staff team were trained and applied the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) principles in practice as necessary.

• People received the necessary support to manage their medicines as prescribed.

• Staff had knowledge and skills to support to people if they noticed them being at risk to harm or when incidents and accidents took place.

• Staff assisted people to prepare their meals and attend to their health needs.

• The premises were easily accessible and met people’s care and support needs.

• Staff followed confidentiality principles to ensure safe care delivery for people.

• People told us that staff were kind and respectful towards their care needs.

• People’s independence was promoted and staff had encouraged people to make decisions about their life style and daily activities.

• People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

• People felt that the registered manager was responsive to their care needs.

• There were robust quality assurance processes in place to monitor the quality of the services provided for people.

• Staff were involved and shared responsibilities to ensure good care delivery for people.

Rating at last inspection:

• This was the first inspection of the service after they changed their provider from Dimensions to United Response in May 2018. At the last inspection on 28 July 2017, the service was given a rating of Good in all key questions.

Why we inspected:

• This inspection was part of our scheduled plan of visiting services to check the safety and quality of care people received.

Follow up:

• We will continue to monitor the service to ensure that people receive safe, compassionate, high quality care. Further inspection will be planned in line with our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect the service sooner.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk