Princess Alexandra Home For The Blind

Updated 26 January 2024

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

One inspector, 1 regulatory co-ordinator and 1 Expert by Experience carried out the inspection. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Princess Alexandra Home for the Blind is a ‘care home’ without nursing. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there were 2 registered managers in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced on the first day. The other 2 days we looked at care records off site.

Inspection activity started on 11 January 2024 and ended on 15 January 2024. We visited the location’s office/service on 11 January 2024.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority, professionals who work with the service and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 8 people who lived at the home and 2 relatives and 1 person’s friend about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 13 members of staff including the chief executive officer, 2 registered managers, 2 deputy managers, and 3 carers. We spoke with 2 cooks, 2 housekeeping staff, the maintenance person and 1 visiting health professionals. We had a walk around the home to make sure it was homely, suitable and safe. We observed the care and support people received. This helped us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 6 people's care records and multiple medication records. We looked at 4 staff files in relation to recruitment and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 26 January 2024

About the service

Princess Alexandra Home for the Blind is a residential care home providing accommodation for persons who require nursing or personal care to up to 40 people. The service provides support to older people who may have a sensory impairment or learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder. At the time of our inspection there were 32 people using the service.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support:

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice. When people lacked capacity to make specific decisions, we found the service was following the best interest's principle. Relevant authorisations had been granted where people’s liberties were deprived.

People’s needs were assessed, and care plans were developed to promote positive risk taking. People’s bedrooms and decor was personalised and reflected their personalities, showing their choices and decisions had been respected. Staff had been employed following robust recruitment procedures and were trained in the safe storage and administration of medicines. Staff were knowledgeable on what actions to take should they witness any safeguarding concerns or hear any allegations of abuse.

Right Care:

The service had enough staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. Staff knew the people they were supporting well, including their health and wellbeing needs. Staff were trained and skilled to offer support and guidance to quickly lessen or minimise people’s distress. Staff and visitors had access to protective personal equipment to limit the risk of infection.

Right Culture:

People and staff told us they could raise concerns with managers and feel safe and supported. People were comfortable and relaxed in the company of staff. People and staff had a friendly rapport and people had a positive relationship with the management team. The provider carried out regular audits and could evidence lessons were learnt when things went wrong. The management team worked alongside staff to keep people safe.

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

Rating at last inspection: The last rating for this service was good (published 28 January 2019).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the management of risk and personal care. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has remained the same based on the findings of this inspection.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘All inspection reports and timeline’ link for Princess Alexandra Home for the Blind on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.