Isle View Support Service
Support Service Without Care at Home
Aultbea
Achnasheen
IV22 2HU
Inspected by: Paul Hersee
Type of inspection: Announced (Short Notice)
Inspection completed on: 21 June 2011
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Contents
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Summary
About the service we inspected
How we inspected this service
The inspection
Other information
Summary of grades
Inspection and grading history
Service provided by:
AKAM Care Ltd
Service provider number:
SP2010011038
Care service number:
CS2010269907
Contact details for the inspector who inspected this service:
Paul Hersee
Telephone 01463 227630
Email [email protected]
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Summary
This report and grades represent our assessment of the quality of the areas of
performance which were examined during this inspection.
Grades for this care service may change after this inspection following other
regulatory activity. For example, if we have to take enforcement action to make the
service improve, or if we investigate and agree with a complaint someone makes
about the service.
We gave the service these grades
Quality of Care and Support 5
Very Good
Quality of Environment 5
Very Good
Quality of Staffing 5
Very Good
Quality of Management and Leadership 4
Good
What the service does well
The service provides a valuable resource for older people in a remote and rural area of
Wester Ross in the Highlands.
The service was flexible, user focused, involving individual service users, relatives and
carers.
The new Providers were committed to providing a very good quality service, building
on an already committed manager and staff team.
The care home also provided a limited support service (day care) to older people in
the locality, as well as offering respite care as an option.
What the service could do better
The service continues to build on current good practise.
What the service has done since the last inspection
This was the first inspection since new providers took over the service in 2010.
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Conclusion
The support service offered a valued service to older people in the local community
and beyond.
The service was clearly meeting its aims and objectives and continues to develop
ways of involving service users in evaluating the service.
The new Providers are committed to improving the service further and are involving
the manager and staff in future plans.
Who did this inspection
Paul Hersee
Lay assessor:
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1 About the service we inspected
Isle View Care home was registered with Social care and Social Work Improvement
Scotland in April 2011, having previously been registered with the Care Commission in
October 2010. The service is registered to provide a support service to 2 older people.
The home was a well established service located in the village of Aultbea.
Based on the findings of this inspection this service has been awarded the following
grades:
Quality of Care and Support - Grade 5 - Very Good
Quality of Environment - Grade 5 - Very Good
Quality of Staffing - Grade 5 - Very Good
Quality of Management and Leadership - Grade 4 - Good
This report and grades represent our assessment of the quality of the areas of
performance which were examined during this inspection.
Grades for this care service may change following other regulatory activity. You can
find the most up-to-date grades for this service by visiting our website
www.scswis.com or by calling us on 0845 600 9527 or visiting one of our offices.
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2 How we inspected this service
The level of inspection we carried out
In this service we carried out a medium intensity inspection. We carry out these
inspections where we have assessed the service may need a more intense inspection.
What we did during the inspection
This was an announced inspection undertaken by Social care and Social Work
Improvement Scotland Inspector, Paul Hersee on the 20 and 21 June 2011. A verbal
feedback was given to the Provider and Manager on the 21 June 2011.
In this inspection we gathered evidence from various sources, including policies,
procedures, records and other documents, including;
Statement of aims and objectives
Care Plans
Minutes of service users and relatives meetings
Daily notes
Medication
Training records
Staff files
Menus
Feedback from Care Quality questionnaires
We also had discussions with;
Service users
Relatives and carers
The Provider of the service
The Manager
Nursing and care staff.
A tour of the building was also undertaken
Grading the service against quality themes and statements
We inspect and grade elements of care that we call 'quality themes'. For example,
one of the quality themes we might look at is 'Quality of care and support'. Under
each quality theme are 'quality statements' which describe what a service should be
doing well for that theme. We grade how the service performs against the quality
themes and statements.
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Details of what we found are in Section 3: The inspection
Inspection Focus Areas (IFAs)
In any year we may decide on specific aspects of care to focus on during our
inspections. These are extra checks we make on top of all the normal ones we make
during inspection. We do this to gather information about the quality of these aspects
of care on a national basis. Where we have examined an inspection focus area we will
clearly identify it under the relevant quality statement.
Fire safety issues
We do not regulate fire safety. Local fire and rescue services are responsible for
checking services. However, where significant fire safety issues become apparent, we
will alert the relevant fire and rescue services so they may consider what action to
take. You can find out more about care services' responsibilities for fire safety at
www.firelawscotland.org
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What the service has done to meet any requirements we made at
our last inspection
The requirement
It is a requirement that the service complies with the actions designated within the
Fire Safety Inspection report of 3rd December 2010. This in order to comply with the
SSI 114 Regulation 4 (1) Welfare of Users: (a) providers shall make proper provision for
the health and welfare of service users;
What the service did to meet the requirement
This requirement has been met and fire training for staff has been undertaken.
The requirement is: Met
The annual return
Every year all care services must complete an 'annual return' form to make sure the
information we hold is up to date. We also use annual returns to decide how we will
inspect the service.
Annual Return Received: No
Comments on Self Assessment
Every year all care services must complete a 'self assessment' form telling us how
their service is performing. We check to make sure this assessment is accurate.
The self assessment was fully completed and assisted the in spection.
Taking the views of people using the care service into account
One care standards questionnaires was returned by service users, responding to the
statement, "Overall I am happy with the quality of care this service gives me" the
service user "strongly agreed" with the statement
Taking carers' views into account
There were no relatives or carers available during the inspection.
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3 The inspection
We looked at how the service performs against the following quality themes and
statements. Here are the details of what we found.
Quality Theme 1: Quality of Care and Support
Overall grade awarded for this theme: 5 - Very Good
Statement 1
We ensure that service users and carers participate in assessing and improving the
quality of the care and support provided by the service.
Service strengths
The service had undertaken a Quality Assurance survey in October 2010, involving
service users, family and carers. This had been followed up by a survey to all
professionals involved in using the service. Feedback from both these surveys was
positive. Further surveys will be undertaken by the service during the year.
Further feedback from service users since this inspection confirms the involvement of
all service users. Recent feedback from service users related to sandwiches and
snacks, how night staff carried out their checks at night. Because of this changes
were made immediately to the provision. Further areas related to the lighting and
heating, these are issues still being addressed by the service. Surveys are organised
independently by a volunteer who attends the service.
The new providers are developing an updated Participation Strategy, they are also
encouraging ideas from staff to further develop the service.
Service users have a named carer who know the service users well, they feed into the
process any ideas about activities or individual needs of service users. Service users
stated that they were able to ask for most things, including choice of food, leaving the
building for individual activities, entertainments within the service, choice of what
furniture they brought for their rooms, open times for visiting the service, meetings
and suggestions from meetings that were acted upon by the service.
Care plans were in place for each service user, these covered all the areas of care and
actively involved service users, relatives and cares, the plans were kept in each
individual service users room.
Areas for improvement
The service should continue with its very good practise.
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Grade awarded for this statement: 6 - Excellent
Number of requirements: 0
Number of recommendations: 0
Statement 2
We enable service users to make individual choices and ensure that every service user
can be supported to achieve their potential.
Service strengths
Service users were encouraged to make individual choices in most area of their daily
life. This included choice of foods, where they wished to take their meals, what time,
when they got up in the morning, bedtimes, entertainments, trips out from the
service, choice over worship or church attendance.
Care plans were in place for all service users, there were details in plans about service
users previous life and what interests they had. These were taken into account when
offering choices. Named carers were in place for all service users.
Service users were aware of advocacy service within the area, they also had access to
the volunteer who visited the service. They regularly spoke with this person, who
feedback any issues to the management team, who acted on this.
Areas for improvement
Care plans were being reviewed, particularly in relation to risk assessments, including
bed rail risk assessments. The service should look at ways of streamlining the
recording process within care plans, so that they were more user friendly. All policies
and procedures should be updated to include the new regulator details.
Grade awarded for this statement: 5 - Very Good
Number of requirements: 0
Number of recommendations: 0
Statement 3
We ensure that service user's health and wellbeing needs are met.
Service strengths
Observation of practise and discussion with service user's and staff suggest that day
to day care is undertaken in a thorough and caring way. There is emphasis on
ensuring service users appearance is positive and state of dress is attended to a high
standard.
There is good access to other health and social care professional's, evidence of this
was seen within care plans. A recent survey of external health professionals
confirmed the high standards within the service. Care plans were in place and there
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was reference to controlling body temperature, manual handling, risk assessments,
weight/ malnutrition (MUST) and pressure sore management. There was evidence
that these were regularly reviewed.
Individual service users medication was kept locked in their rooms, there was choice
of self medication to those that were able.
Involvement of the whole staff team was evident and the manager encourages a
team approach to the care of service users. Staff spoken with confirmed this approach
as did service user's.
Care staff were observed helping and spending time with service users during meal
times. There was good practise observed and interaction between staff and service
users was very good. Meals were varied and offered good choice to service users.
Service user's commented about the quality of food and the choice that they had.
Areas for improvement
The service should continue with current very good practise.
Grade awarded for this statement: 6 - Excellent
Number of requirements: 0
Number of recommendations: 0
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Quality Theme 2: Quality of Environment
Grade awarded for this theme: 5 - Very Good
Statement 1
We ensure that service users and carers participate in assessing and improving the
quality of the environment within the service.
Service strengths
Comments made under 1.1 are also relevant to this particular quality statement.
Areas for improvement
The service should continue to encourage service users and their relatives and carers
to be actively involved in assessing and promoting the quality of the environment.
Grade awarded for this statement: 6 - Excellent
Number of requirements: 0
Number of recommendations: 0
Statement 2
We make sure that the environment is safe and service users are protected.
Service strengths
There was a range of policies and systems in place relating to health and safety, fire
safety and premises risk assessments.
Risk assessments about the different area of the premises were in place and
reviewed. There is a fire safety plan in place and staff receive appropriate training.
Staff also receive training on Adult Protection issues, this is regularly reviewed and
updated.
Food hygiene records, cleaning and temperature records are maintained and
monitored by the manager.
Staff rotas are in place, the service is adequately staffed and the manager monitors
any absentisms
Areas for improvement
The service is updating risk assessments for the service as well as ensuring bed rail
risk assessments are in place.
The previous inspection report of 24 November 2010 highlighted a requirement in
relation to a Fire Safety inspection. This requirement has now been met.
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Grade awarded for this statement: 5 - Very Good
Number of requirements: 0
Number of recommendations: 0
Statement 3
The environment allows service users to have as positive a quality of life as possible.
Service strengths
The care home is very well maintained and pleasantly decorated. At the time of the
inspection it was clean and there were no unpleasant odours. Service users had
access to all of the different lounges and communal areas
There was adequate space foe all service users and no restrictions to those service
users who liked to walk around the building. Service users were able to leave the
building if they wished.
Service users were regularly consulted about the building, their views were actively
considered by the service. Recent examples of this concerned the lighting and
heating.
Areas for improvement
The service is going to undertake an assessment of the environment for service users
with dementia. This assessment will be undertaken by an external consultant. The
Providers are committed to improving the service and making it a centre of excellence
for people with dementia.
Grade awarded for this statement: 5 - Very Good
Number of requirements: 0
Number of recommendations: 0
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Quality Theme 3: Quality of Staffing
Grade awarded for this theme: 5 - Very Good
Statement 1
We ensure that service users and carers participate in assessing and improving the
quality of staffing in the service.
Service strengths
Comments made under statement 1.1 are also relevant to this statement.
Areas for improvement
The service should continue with current very good practise.
Grade awarded for this statement: 6 - Excellent
Number of requirements: 0
Number of recommendations: 0
Statement 2
We are confident that our staff have been recruited, and inducted, in a safe and
robust manner to protect service users and staff.
Service strengths
A number of staff files were examined and the process for recruitment was very good.
The service ensured that all references, applications, disclosure and medical
information was taken up. Induction took place and extended for up to six weeks, so
that staff had a very good knowledge of the service. Service users were involved in the
process of interviewing new staff and this was effective.
There is supervision and staff appraisal in place and the manager is reviewing this.
There was a staff training programme in place and staff confirmed they received
appropriate training. The SVQ training was not available at the moment, the service
were seeking a new provider to offer this.
Areas for improvement
The service should update its training program and records to make them more user
friendly.
The service should continue with its SVQ provision as soon as possible.
Although the service was fully staffed at present, there had been difficulties in
recruiting to such a remote area. The service should continue with its plans to
encourage potential staff by offering appropriate incentives.
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Grade awarded for this statement: 5 - Very Good
Number of requirements: 0
Number of recommendations: 0
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Quality Theme 4: Quality of Management and Leadership
Grade awarded for this theme: 4 - Good
Statement 1
We ensure that service users and carers participate in assessing and improving the
quality of the management and leadership of the service.
Service strengths
Comments and observations made under previous participation statements are also
relevant to this statement.
Areas for improvement
The service should continue with its current very good practise.
Grade awarded for this statement: 6 - Excellent
Number of requirements: 0
Number of recommendations: 0
Statement 2
We involve our workforce in determining the direction and future objectives of the
service.
Service strengths
The manager has regular contact with staff and involves and listens to their views.
The new Providers have also sought the views of staff in improving the service. Plans
are in place to improve supervision and feedback from staff to improve the service.
Areas for improvement
The Provider and manager are looking at ways of improving the feedback from staff.
Grade awarded for this statement: 4 - Good
Number of requirements: 0
Number of recommendations: 0
Statement 4
We use quality assurance systems and processes which involve service users, carers,
staff and stakeholders to assess the quality of service we provide
Service strengths
The service has a number of processes and systems to make sure the service is
operating appropriately, these are currently being reviewed.
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Areas for improvement
The service should develop an overall quality assurance system.
Grade awarded for this statement: 4 - Good
Number of requirements: 0
Number of recommendations: 0
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4 Other information
Complaints
No complaints have been upheld, or partially upheld, since the last inspection.
Enforcements
We have taken no enforcement action against this care service since the last
inspection.
Additional Information
Action Plan
Failure to submit an appropriate action plan within the required timescale, including
any agreed extension, where requirements and recommendations have been made,
will result in SCSWIS re-grading the Quality Statement within the Management and
Leadership Theme as unsatisfactory (1). This will result in the Quality Theme for
Management and Leadership being re-graded as Unsatisfactory (1).
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5 Summary of grades
Quality of Care and Support - 5 - Very Good
Statement 1
6 - Excellent
Statement 2
5 - Very Good
Statement 3
6 - Excellent
Quality of Environment - 5 - Very Good
Statement 1
6 - Excellent
Statement 2
5 - Very Good
Statement 3
5 - Very Good
Quality of Staffing - 5 - Very Good
Statement 1
6 - Excellent
Statement 2
5 - Very Good
Quality of Management and Leadership - 4 - Good
Statement 1
6 - Excellent
Statement 2
4 - Good
Statement 4
4 - Good
6 Inspection and grading history
All inspections and grades before 1 April 2011 are those reported by the former
regulator of care services, the Care Commission.
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To find out more about our inspections and inspection reports
Read our leaflet 'How we inspect'. You can download it from our website or ask us to
send you a copy by telephoning us on 0845 600 9527.
This inspection report is published by SCSWIS. You can get more copies of this report
and others by downloading it from our website:
www.scswis.com or by telephoning 0845 600 9527.
Translations and alternative formats
This inspection report is available in other languages and formats on request.
Telephone: 0845 600 9527
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.scswis.com
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