The Castings Hostel Housing Support Service 14 Castings Avenue Falkirk FK2 7BJ Telephone:

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1 The Castings Hostel Housing Support Service 14 Castings Avenue Falkirk FK2 7BJ Telephone: Inspected by: Jane Lynch Type of inspection: Unannounced Inspection completed on: 24 December 2012

2 Contents Page No Summary 3 1 About the service we inspected 5 2 How we inspected this service 7 3 The inspection 11 4 Other information 21 5 Summary of grades 22 6 Inspection and grading history 22 Service provided by: Falkirk Council Service provider number: SP Care service number: CS Contact details for the inspector who inspected this service: Jane Lynch Telephone enquiries@careinspectorate.com The Castings Hostel, page 2 of 23

3 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 Staffing 5 Very Good Quality of Management and Leadership 4 Good What the service does well We found that the service implemented an effective process of consultation to identify the support needs of people using the service. People using the service had been involved in expressing their experiences of using a homeless service through designing a book called 'Casting the First Stone'. People using the service had benefited from being involved in the recruitment of staff. What the service could do better We found that the service needed to develop the formal recording of risk assessment within the personal plan. The service had begun the process of exploring how reflective practice can be used by staff to improve the quality of care and support being delivered. What the service has done since the last inspection Since the last inspection we found that the opportunities for people using the service and other stakeholders getting involved in giving their views about the service had been extended. For example people using the service had been supported to host an open day inviting family, friends and other stakeholders along and a committee had been developed and had been involved in 'T pass' meetings where groups of service users from homeless units meet to voice their opinions. The Castings Hostel, page 3 of 23

4 Conclusion Inspection report continued Overall, we found that the service provided a high standard of care and support against the Quality Statements considered during our inspection. The service should continue to build on strengths and take forward areas for improvement. Who did this inspection Jane Lynch The Castings Hostel, page 4 of 23

5 1 About the service we inspected "The Care Inspectorate regulates care services in Scotland. Prior to 1 April 2011, this function was carried out by the Care Commission. Information in relation to all care services is available on our website at This services was previously registered with the Care Commission and transferred its registration to the Care Inspectorate on 1 April Requirements and recommendations If we are concerned about some aspect of a service, or think it could do more to improve its service, we may make a recommendation or requirement. - A recommendation is a statement that sets out actions the care service provider should take to improve or develop the quality of the service but where failure to do so will not directly result in enforcement. - A requirement is a statement which sets out what is required of a care service to comply with the Public Services Reforms (Scotland) Act 2010 and Regulations or Orders made under the Act, or a condition of registration. Where there are breaches of the Regulations, Orders or conditions, a requirement must be made. Requirements are legally enforceable at the discretion of the Inspectorate." The Castings Hostel is a housing support service provided by Falkirk Council to homeless, single males. Service users are given temporary accommodation in the hostel and the support is provided on a short term basis until such times as they have moved into a longer term tenancy. The support is aimed at assisting with the practicalities of moving and developing necessary skills in order that the homeless persons sustain their tenancies in the longer term. The premises from which the service operates is owned and maintained by Falkirk Council and is situated close to the town centre. 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 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 The Castings Hostel, page 5 of 23

6 or by calling us on or visiting one of our offices. The Castings Hostel, page 6 of 23

7 2 How we inspected this service The level of inspection we carried out In this service we carried out a low intensity inspection. We carry out these inspections when we are satisfied that services are working hard to provide consistently high standards of care. What we did during the inspection The inspection was carried out by Inspector Jane Lynch. An unannounced inspection began on 27 November The inspection process began with an office visit to speak with staff and to examine records and other documentation. A second visit on 3 December 2012 enabled the inspection officer to speak with people using the service and to give some feedback to the manager. Grades were confirmed by telephone on 24 December During the inspection, evidence sampled included: Policy and procedure Staff files including training records Accident and incident records Complaint documentation Service questionnaires Recording formats used for quality assurance processes Action plan for the service Meeting minutes including review and team meeting minutes 'Personal plans' Discussion took place with the following people: The Manager Depute manager Care staff People using the service. 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. The Castings Hostel, page 7 of 23

8 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 The Castings Hostel, page 8 of 23

9 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: Yes - Electronic 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 service submitted a fully completed self assessment document to us before we carried out our inspection. The service told us what they thought they did well, some areas for improvement and how they planned to take these forward. The sources of evidence given by the service provided a useful starting point for our inspection. The service could continue to develop self assessment to link specific inputs and outputs to outcomes for people. They could give some examples of the changes that have been made, over time, as a result of service users' involvement and participation. Taking the views of people using the care service into account To gather the views of people using the service we provided 15 care standard questionnaires to the service and asked that they be distributed to people using the service. We received four completed questionnaires at the point of inspection. Comments included "Since moving into this service I feel it's the place I need to be at this point in my life. I feel the support and advice I am receiving is 2'nd to none. The staff are always there for me no matter what time of day or night which makes me feel very reassured." We met with a group of five people that used the service. In the main people said they felt supported by staff and that the service was better that some past experiences of homeless units. People said they had been involved in the committee meetings and in staff recruitment. Some issues raised were about communal living for example clothing going missing and people leaving a mess. Some felt that it would be good to have wireless in the hostel and that it would be good to have visitors at any time. The Castings Hostel, page 9 of 23

10 Taking carers' views into account We were unable to gather the views of relatives at this inspection. Inspection report continued The Castings Hostel, page 10 of 23

11 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 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 We found that the service performed to a very good level in this statement. We reached this conclusion through examining documentation, speaking with people using the service and speaking with staff. We found a variety of ways that people using the service were involved in assessing the quality of the service. Examples included involvement in organising an open day, development of newsletters, involvement in a resident committee, involvement in staff recruitment and opportunities to complete surveys giving feedback about the service. People we talked with said that being involved had helped them build their self esteem and confidence in giving their views about decisions that affected them. We saw how the service used feedback from people to improve the service. An example of action taken to improve the service included the installation of a camera in the laundry room following complaints of personal clothing going missing. Areas for improvement The service should build in a process of consultation with people regarding involvement and participation. This would enable people to identify how they would prefer to be involved in giving their views about the service. A review had been undertaken to identify where involvement and participation opportunities could be improved. An area that had been identified as needing improvement was the format of the survey questionnaire. The aim was to make the format user friendly and targeted enabling focussed feedback about various aspects of the service. The Castings Hostel, page 11 of 23

12 Opportunities for people using the service to meet on a regular basis were available. However, attendance at some of the arranged meetings was limited. It was suggested that a process of consultation could be undertaken with people using the service in a bid to improve attendance. Grade awarded for this statement: 5 - Very Good Number of requirements: 0 Number of recommendations: 0 The Castings Hostel, page 12 of 23

13 Statement 3 We ensure that service users' health and wellbeing needs are met. Service strengths We found that the service performed to a very good level in this statement. We reached this conclusion through examining documentation including personal plans, speaking with people using the service and speaking with staff. We found that each person using the service had a personal plan that contained information about their health, welfare and safety needs. The personal plan contained detail that included how each person would be supported to move towards maintaining their own tenancy. We found that people were involved in agreeing their health and wellbeing support needs with the service through a process of consultation. Links with external agencies ensured that people using the service were supported with all aspects of their lives. For example advice and education in healthy eating on a low budget, referrals to external agencies and support and advice about drugs and alcohol misuse. Links with NHS enabled people to take part in positive health initiatives to encourage healthy lifestyle choices. We found that staff were trained to enable them to understand the range of health and wellbeing needs of the people they supported and to give them advice promoting healthy lifestyle choices. The service had a wide range of policies, procedures and protocols in place to guide staff in how to best meet individual health and wellbeing needs. We found that people using the service had received training to inform them about what to do if they found someone that had taken a drugs overdose (Naloxone training). People we talked with said that the training might help them to save a life. Areas for improvement Inspection report continued The service had identified that developing the service to include an outreach service would have a long term benefit in supporting people to maintain their tenancy after moving on. An area for improvement suggested through speaking with people using the service was to have information leaflets available in individual flats to enable them to access them in private. We found that the service needed to develop the formal recording of risk assessment within the personal plan to include detail of risk and how any risk will be minimised through the support being delivered. (see recommendation 1) The Castings Hostel, page 13 of 23

14 The service should ensure that people that have communication problems have information about their support needs detailed within the personal plan. Grade awarded for this statement: 5 - Very Good Number of requirements: 0 Number of recommendations: 1 Recommendations Inspection report continued 1. The service should develop the risk assessment process to ensure that the detail identifies how risk will be minimised to protect the health, welfare and safety of service users. The Castings Hostel, page 14 of 23

15 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 Similar to Quality Theme 1, statement 1. We found opportunities for service users to give their views about the quality of the staff team. The service currently encourages people to express their views about the staff that support them through the various opportunities described in Quality Theme 1, statement 1. We found a very good example of how people using the service had been involved in assessing the quality of staff through the recruitment process. The service had formally invited people to be involved in the recruitment of staff. People said they had enjoyed the experience and that managers had listened to their views about which candidate they had preferred. Areas for improvement The service should consider the areas for improvement highlighted in Quality Theme 1, statement 1. Grade awarded for this statement: 5 - Very Good Number of requirements: 0 Number of recommendations: 0 The Castings Hostel, page 15 of 23

16 Statement 3 We have a professional, trained and motivated workforce which operates to National Care Standards, legislation and best practice. Service strengths Inspection report continued We found that the service was performing to a very good level in this statement. We reached this conclusion through: Speaking with people using the service and their carers Discussion with the manager and staff Examining staff training records Examining training plans The distribution of Care Standard questionnaires. Sampling team meeting minutes Sampling supervision records Sampling policy and procedure The service implemented policy and procedure that supported staff to develop and maintain an appropriate level of professionalism. Policy included: Recruitment Staff supervision Staff training Staff took part in a comprehensive induction training programme that took place over five days. This covered a range of highly relevant topics including; Values, Person Centred Care and Health and Safety practices. New staff then shadowed experienced staff until they were confident in role. We found that the programme of mandatory training and other relevant training opportunities supported staff with their personal learning and development. This resulted in staff having the skills, knowledge and understanding to deliver care and support that met individual need. Supervision and team meetings provided opportunities to identify training need and to consider how best practice could be implemented in practice to improve the care and support being delivered. We found that meetings had been used to increase awareness and understanding of policy, procedure and protocols for example SSSC codes of conduct and child protection. Where there had been significant events, staff were involved in a de-brief with managers providing support and opportunities for reflecting on practice and identifying learning from specific situations. The Castings Hostel, page 16 of 23

17 It was evident that staff had developed positive relationships with people they support and applied good principles of care in their practice. Areas for improvement The service had begun the process of exploring how reflective practice can be used by staff to improve the quality of care and support being delivered. Individual staff need to give consideration to how they can evidence their Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in preparation for registration with Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC). Grade awarded for this statement: 5 - Very Good Number of requirements: 0 Number of recommendations: 0 Inspection report continued The Castings Hostel, page 17 of 23

18 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 Similar to Quality Themes 1 and 2, statement 1. The service currently encourages people to express their views about the quality of Management and Leadership through the various opportunities described in Quality Theme 1, statement 1. We found opportunities including that encouraged people to talk directly with the manager of the service and we found that senior staff communicated with people to encourage involvement in giving their views about service developments. Areas for improvement The service should consider the areas for improvement highlighted in Quality Theme 1, statement 1. Grade awarded for this statement: 5 - Very Good Number of requirements: 0 Number of recommendations: 0 The Castings Hostel, page 18 of 23

19 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 Inspection report continued We found that the service was performing at a good level in this statement. We reached this conclusion by: Sampling documentation linked to quality assurance systems and processes Sampling review minutes held in personal plans Speaking with people using the service Discussion with the manager and staff Across the service quality indicators are used to measure the quality of the service. They included: Engaging with people to gather their views and measure the quality of outcomes for people. Six monthly reviews that ensure the care and support being delivered continues to meet the persons' individual need and that details in the personal plan are current. Staff supervision framework Annual Performance development scheme Training needs analysis audits of records and other documentation Matrix to measure service user progress and skills development We found a range of systems that enabled managers to monitor and review the service being delivered. The Annual Report for 2010/11 had been formulated identifying areas for improvement that had been highlighted as part of the process. Areas for improvement An area for improvement identified by the service was the need to update Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) checks for all staff. To reach a level of continued quality assurance that involves people using the service, relatives, staff and other stakeholders, the service needs to further develop the strategies in place. Examples could be: Develop reflective practice for staff encouraging them to assess their own performance The Castings Hostel, page 19 of 23

20 Spot checks to measure the quality of staff practice when delivering support to people Consult with people that use the service about how they could be further involved in assessing all aspects of the service. Continued quality assurance of the service will lead to improved care and support being delivered to people. Grade awarded for this statement: 4 - Good Number of requirements: 0 Number of recommendations: 0 Inspection report continued The Castings Hostel, page 20 of 23

21 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 N/A 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). The Castings Hostel, page 21 of 23

22 5 Summary of grades Quality of Care and Support Very Good Statement 1 Statement Very Good 5 - Very Good Quality of Staffing Very Good Statement 1 Statement Very Good 5 - Very Good Quality of Management and Leadership Good Statement 1 Statement Very Good 4 - Good 6 Inspection and grading history Date Type Gradings 5 Mar 2010 Announced Care and support 5 - Very Good Staffing 5 - Very Good Management and Leadership Not Assessed 5 Feb 2009 Care and support 4 - Good Staffing 4 - Good Management and Leadership 4 - Good All inspections and grades before 1 April 2011 are those reported by the former regulator of care services, the Care Commission. The Castings Hostel, page 22 of 23

23 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 This inspection report is published by the Care Inspectorate. You can get more copies of this report and others by downloading it from our website: or by telephoning Translations and alternative formats This inspection report is available in other languages and formats on request. Telephone: enquiries@careinspectorate.com Web: The Castings Hostel, page 23 of 23