Winfrith House

Winfrith House is a residential care home which specialises in providing care and support to adults and younger adults with a learning disability and or autistic people. The service can accommodate up to 2 people, and at the time of our inspection there was 1 person living at the service. The care home is a domestic style 3-bedroom property and is situated in a residential area in Southampton.

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

We found improvements were required to ensure the provider consistently identified, assessed, and managed all risks to people. Staff we spoke with knew how to keep people safe and there were appropriate levels of staff in place.

People were not consistently supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives. We were not assured staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests. The policies and systems in the service did not support this practice.

We received feedback that staff were kind and caring, however we observed staff engagement with people using meaningful communication and in line with their care plan needed to be improved. Our judgements were supported by professional feedback that staff were not always observed to be proactive in engagement, and the service did not take opportunities to maximise people’s potential.

Staff supported community access and engagement in leisure activities outside of the service. Staff knew how to support people during periods of crisis and care plans included personalised information on their likes, dislikes, and preferences.

The service was not always well-led. We found governance systems were not effective or robust to ensure the provider consistently met their requirements.

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: We received professional feedback that the model of care and setting did not always maximise people’s choice, control, and independence.

Right Care: Staff were kind and caring, however improvements were required to ensure they consistently engaged with people using a person-centred approach.

Right Culture: Although the service promoted the intention of supporting people to have goals and aspirations, there wasn’t always clear evidence of how this would be achieved.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 12 July 2022, and this was the first inspection.

Why we inspected

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

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to consent and adhering to the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, when decisions are made in people’s best interest, and related to good governance. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

We have recommended the provider continues to review and embed their processes around their requirement to notify CQC of incidents to ensure relevant information is shared .

Follow up

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