Brighton Road

Brighton Road is a care home providing personal care to up to 4 people. The service provides support to people with learning disabilities. At the time of our inspection there was 1 person using the service. Who received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.

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.

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

A person was 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.

All care was carried out by the registered manager, who was also a director, and the other director. Both regularly received training in safeguarding to keep their knowledge of their responsibilities up to date. The registered manager understood their responsibilities to report any allegations of safeguarding to the local authority safeguarding team, although none had been necessary since our last inspection.

Health and safety checks were carried out of the premises to make sure they were safe. The premises were clean, tidy and hygienic and the registered manager and director followed current infection control and hygiene practice to reduce the risk of infections.

Right Care: Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human rights

A person received the right support in relation to risks, such as those relating to learning disabilities. The registered manager and director together provided enough support to safely care for the person and no other staff were required. No support relating to medicines was provided at the time of our inspection.

Right Culture: The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives.

The service was managed well, and the registered manager was experienced and understood their role, as did the second director. The registered manager oversaw the service with regular checks and reviews to ensure people received good quality care. Communication with the person and their relatives was good. Care was provided in a person-centred way. The provider worked with relevant health and social care services to ensure a person received the care they needed.

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

Rating at last inspection

At the last inspection the service was rated good (report published October 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

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.

The registered manager remained 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 is also the registered manager and this is their home. The person using the service lives in the home as a part of the family.

People told us they felt safe. Staff were trained in adult safeguarding procedures and knew what to do if they considered people were at risk of harm or if they needed to report any suspected abuse. Staff were aware of the whistleblowing procedures and knew how to use them.

The risks to people's safety and wellbeing were assessed and regularly reviewed.

The provider had processes in place for the recording and investigation of incidents and accidents.

There were sufficient numbers of staff available to help meet people’s needs.

People were not prescribed medicines and so did not need support with the management of any medicines.

Staff completed training for good practice with food hygiene and infection control.

The provider met the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) to help ensure people’s rights were protected. Staff had received appropriate training and had a good understanding of the MCA. People and their relatives said staff sought their consent before providing care.

People were supported to access health care services as required in order to help them to stay healthy.

Relatives told us staff were consistently kind and caring and established positive relationships with people and with them. They told us staff valued people, treated them with respect and promoted their rights, choice and independence.

People and their relatives were involved in the planning and review of their care. Care plans were reviewed on a regular basis and also when there was a change in care needs. People were given information about how to make a complaint and the people we spoke with knew how to go about making a complaint and were confident that they would be responded to appropriately by the provider. We saw evidence the registered manager responded to complaints received in a timely manner.

We received positive feedback about the management of the service. The registered manager and the staff were approachable and fully engaged with providing good quality care for people who used the service. The provider had systems in place to continually monitor the quality of the service and there were arrangements for people to be asked for their opinions via surveys.

477 Brighton Road is a home for up to four people who have learning disabilities. At the time of our inspection there was one person living in the home. The staffing of the home was undertaken by the owners, one of whom was the registered manager. The owners have two other registered services and all three services share a common set of policies and procedures. If for any reason an additional staff member was required the provider would make use of bank staff from within his own employees.

The home 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 in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People who lived at the home were protected from the risk of abuse happening to them. People told us they felt safe and well cared for at the service and that they felt comfortable with the staff.

We saw that people’s health and nutrition were regularly monitored. There were well established links with GP services and other community health services such as dentists.

Care records were individual to the person and contained information about their life history, their likes and dislikes, and information which would be helpful to hospitals or other health support services.

Staffing levels were managed flexibly to suit people's needs so that they received their care when they needed it. Staff had access to information, support and training that they needed to do their jobs well. The provider’s training programme was designed to meet the needs of people using the service so that staff had the knowledge and skills they required to care for people effectively.

There was an open and inclusive atmosphere in the service. People told us they found the manager to be approachable and supportive.

The provider carried out regular audits to monitor the quality of the service and to plan improvements. Action plans were used so the provider could monitor whether necessary changes were made.

We saw that there were appropriate arrangements for medicines to be safely stored and that administration records were accurate and up to date.

There were no staff employed at the time of the visit due to their only being two people using the service. The two providers were able to fully discuss the appropriate steps to be taken when recruiting staff to ensure people using the service were cared for by staff that had the appropriate skills and qualifications.

We saw evidence that training was undertaken on a regular basis by the providers to ensure people's health and welfare needs were met.

Records were found to be accurate and fit for purpose and were stored securely to ensure confidentiality.

People were supported in promoting their independence and community involvement. We observed that staff were aware of people's preferences and routines so they could support people in their daily lives.

We saw the satisfaction surveys that had been completed by people using the service and they were happy with the care being provided in the home. The provider had a system to assess the feedback provided in the satisfaction questionnaires and to take action where required to address areas where improvement had been identified.