This inspection was carried out on 31 July 2018. We gave 24 hours’ notice of our intention to visit Maritime House so as to ensure that the people we needed to speak with were available.

Maritime House is an extra care housing scheme in Portsmouth. It is one of four extra care services provided by Sevacare (UK) Limited in the Portsmouth area. Sevacare (UK) Limited provides personal care to people within their own homes accommodated within one building. People live in self contained flats with some shared facilities including, lounge areas, a restaurant and gardens. The building itself is not managed by Sevacare (UK) Limited. The service is provided from an office located within the building. At the time of our inspection, 60 people residing at Maritime House were receiving personal care and support from Sevacare (UK) Limited.

At our last inspection in February 2016, we recommended that the provider review their care planning and review processes in relation to people's expectations for their care and support and continue to take action to address people's dissatisfaction. During this inspection we saw that these matters had been dealt with satisfactorily and were no longer of concern.

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 of the Health and Social Care Act and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Staff gave good examples of how to recognise potential signs of abuse. Staff were clear about their responsibilities in safeguarding people and knew who to report their concerns to if they needed to. Staff felt that the management team would robustly investigate and effectively resolve any issues regarding safeguarding issues or concerns. Staff were aware of the provider’s whistleblowing policy and knew how to identify and contact external professionals to assist them if required.

Up-to-date risk assessments were available for staff to assist them to care for people safely. The assessments provided all the required information to manage risks to people’s health and wellbeing. There were regular reviews of people’s risk assessments to ensure that people and staff remained safe should their needs change.

The provider followed safe recruitment practices. These included obtaining photographic identification, satisfactory references and a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check to ensure that appropriate staff were employed to care for people. There were enough staff employed to keep people safe and the employer looked at innovative ways to recruit new staff.

Infection control processes were followed and personal protective equipment (PPE) was available for staff to prevent the spread of infection.

The provider had processes in place to ensure that medicines were managed safely. Medicines Administration Records (MARs) were fully completed to ensure that people received the right medication at the right times.

Learning from incidents was discussed with staff at team meetings to ensure that examples of best practice were shared, with a view to preventing reoccurrence.

Staff received an initial induction, training and shadowing opportunities as a new member of the team. The provider offered mandatory, annual refresher training to ensure their staff maintained the appropriate skills and knowledge to carry out their roles effectively. Supervision, spot checks and annual appraisals were provided for staff and staff were offered other training opportunities to develop professionally if they wished. Staff achievements were recognised with an annual awards ceremony.

The service had implemented ‘diversity Thursday’ where staff were encouraged to embrace different cultures represented within their own teams and in relation to the people they supported. This was part of the wider ‘

The inspection took place on 4 February 2016. We gave notice of our intention to visit Maritime House to make sure people we needed to speak with were available.

Sevacare (UK) Limited provides personal care services for people living in their own homes and in four extra care housing schemes in Portsmouth. Sevacare (UK) Limited manages these five registered locations as their “Portsmouth Branch”. Maritime House is an extra care housing scheme. The management of the building and facilities is not the responsibility of Sevacare (UK) Limited. The building contains self-contained flats with some shared facilities. Sevacare (UK) Limited has an office in the building from which they manage their service. At the time of our inspection 68 people received personal care and support services from Sevacare (UK) at Maritime House.

There was a registered manager in post. 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 provider made sure staff knew about the risks of abuse and avoidable harm and had suitable processes in place if staff needed to report concerns. The provider had procedures in place to identify, assess, manage and reduce other risks to people’s health and wellbeing. There were enough staff to support people safely according to their needs. Recruitment procedures were in place to make sure staff were suitable to work in a care setting. Procedures and processes were in place to make sure medicines were handled safely.

Staff received regular training, supervision and appraisal to help them obtain and maintain the skills and knowledge required to support people according to their needs. Arrangements were in place to obtain and record people’s consent to their care and support.

Staff were able to develop caring relationships with people. They respected their independence, privacy and dignity when supporting people with their personal care.

The provider’s assessment, care planning and reporting systems were designed to make sure people received care and support that met their needs and was delivered according to their preferences and wishes. Some people were dissatisfied with the scope and quality of their care and support. People knew how to make a complaint if they had concerns, and complaints were logged, investigated and followed up.

People and their care workers described an open, supportive, caring culture. This was maintained by effective management systems and procedures to monitor and improve the quality of service provided.

We made a recommendation concerning use of the care planning and review process to address people’s dissatisfaction with their care.