Care Home for Special Needs

Care Home for Special Needs is a residential care home providing personal care to two people with a learning disability at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to four people.

The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.

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

The provider continually checked that people were satisfied and confident in the standard of care provided within the service. However, there was a lack of formal auditing systems and records in place. Quality assurance systems needed development to ensure they consistently identified and addressed any shortfalls.

Some areas of medicine practice and management of risk regarding water temperatures and the fire risk assessment needed review regarding the fire exit arrangements.

People received safe care by the provider and staff who understood how to recognise signs of abuse or risk and understood what to do to safely support people. People were supported to take positive risks, to ensure they had as much choice and control of their lives as possible. People received support from staff when needed.

People’s care and support reflected their individual assessed needs. Staff had the appropriate skills and knowledge to meet people’s needs and received training and ongoing support. People had been supported to maintain their health and wellbeing and had access to healthcare services when required. People were supported to have enough to eat and drink to maintain their well-being.

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.

The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence.

People received help and support from a kind and compassionate staff team with whom they had positive relationships with. Staff showed respect for people's rights, privacy, dignity and independence. People were involved in making decisions about their care and support needs.

The provider and staff were committed to delivering care in a person-centred way based on people's preferences and wishes. They were knowledgeable about the people they supported and had built trusting and meaningful relationships with them. People were supported to maintain relationships with those that were important to them. Activities were tailor-made to people's preferences and interests. People were encouraged to go out and form relationships with members of the community. People knew how to make a complaint if they were unhappy.

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 requires improvement (published 30 April 2019). The service remains rated requires improvement. This service has been rated requires improvement for the last two consecutive inspections.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well led sections of this full report.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Enforcement

We have identified a breach in relation to good governance at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

The Care Home for Special Needs is a care home for up to 4 people who have a learning disability or autism spectrum diagnosis. At the time of the inspection 2 people were living at the service.

People’s experience of using this service:

The care people received was safe, although not all environmental checks had been carried out. Risks to people were assessed although not all associated risks were identified. Staff training was not always updated to ensure their knowledge was current.

There were limited staff resources in place at the service which had impacted when not all of the staff team were available. During this time people had received the care and support they needed, however during this time there had been limited oversight of the service. This meant environmental checks had not been completed and care records had not been updated.

People’s experience of using the service was positive. People told us, “I like living here. The staff are nice and kind to me.” People were protected against avoidable harm, abuse, neglect and discrimination. Staff received supervision and support.

Care was person-centred and focused on people being as independent as they could be. The ethos of the service was a Family and this was promoted. The care was planned and delivered based on people’s needs and preferences. The management team embraced new ways of working. Staff felt valued and the culture was open and honest. Staff we spoke with provided positive feedback about the service and the provider. The staff were committed to ensuring improvements continued to ensure the best care for people who lived at the Care Home for Special Needs.

Rating at last inspection: At the last inspection the service was rated Good. (The last inspection report was published on 11 March 2016.) At this inspection the safe and well-led area requires improvement making the service requires improvement overall.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned comprehensive inspection scheduled to take place in line with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) scheduling guidelines for adult social care services.

Follow up:

We will review the service in line with our methodology for services which are rated 'Requires Improvement'.

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

We found that people's needs were assessed and care and treatment was planned and delivered in line with their individual care plan. People told us that they were well looked after at the home and we noted that people looked comfortable with staff that supported them. Risks presented by people's needs and conditions had been assessed and plans were in place to manage risks in a way that balanced safety with independence. People had access to health services and the home worked with local health care specialists to meet people's needs.

The design and layout of the premises was a traditional Victorian town house, close to a local park and we noted that people made use of this with staff support. The home was well decorated, kept in good repair, homely, warm, clean and well lit. We found that people were protected against the risks associated with unsafe or unsuitable premises because installations were regularly serviced.

People had the specialist equipment that they needed to promote their health and independence and it was kept in good order. Equipment including fire safety equipment and electrical appliances were maintained in a safe condition.