HF Trust - Thetford Road

Updated 17 August 2023

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

This inspection was carried out by 1 inspector and an Expert by Experience. 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

HF Trust - Thetford Road is a 'care home'. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. HF Trust - Thetford Road is a care home without nursing care. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We gave the service 24 hours' notice of the inspection site visit because we needed to be sure that the management team would be available to support the inspection when we visited.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we held about the service including the last inspection report and notifications. A notification is information about important events, which the provider is required to tell us about by law. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 2 people who used the service and 5 family members. We also spoke with the registered manager and 2 staff members who provided care to people. We contacted 3 healthcare professionals to find out their experiences of working with this provider.

We reviewed a range of records. This included people's care plans and risk assessments, medicines management procedures and staff files in relation to training and recruitment data. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits and policies were also reviewed.

Updated 17 August 2023

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.

About the service

HF Trust - Thetford Road is a residential care home providing personal care to up to 8 people. The service supported people with learning disabilities and autism. At the time of our inspection there were 8 people using the service.

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

Right Support: Model of Care and setting that maximises people's choice, control and independence. There were safe staff recruitment procedures in place and staff had the necessary training on how to safely support people using the service. People's medicines were managed in line with current best practice.

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. However, mental capacity assessments completed by the provider had not always included all the necessary information. Actions taken by the provider to address this gap will be reviewed at our next planned inspection.

Right Care: Care is person-centred and promotes people's dignity, privacy, and human rights. People were encouraged to access community independently and be active participants in the society. People’s care and support needs were assessed, and staff did their best to meet them. People's care records were person- centred and up to date. However, risk assessments required reviewing making sure staff were provided with information in relation to the impact the identified risks had on people.

Right Culture: The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive, and empowered lives. There was a good leadership at the service. Staff knew people well and empowered people to make decisions about their care. However, communication with the healthcare professionals and the family members required improving to ensure good information sharing.

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 15 April 2019). You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for HF Trust - Thetford Road on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on when the service was previously inspected.

This was a focused inspection and the report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

Follow up

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