Cherry Tree House

Updated 6 October 2022

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.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. 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 and share good practice with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Cherry Tree House is a ‘care home’. 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. Cherry Tree House is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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 a manager was in post who was going through the process of registering with the Care Quality Commission.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included the statutory notifications the provider had sent to CQC. A notification includes information about important events which the service is required to send us 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 this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with six members of staff. This included the manager and permanent and agency staff. We received feedback from two relatives and two professionals who had contact with the service. The views of everyone we spoke with have been incorporated into this report.

We reviewed two people’s support plans and medicines records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment, training and supervision. We were shown a range of documents relating to the management of the service such as incident records, audits, policies and training data.

We considered this information to help us to make a judgement about the service.

Updated 6 October 2022

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

Cherry Tree House is a residential care home providing personal care and accommodation to up to 11 people. At the time of the inspection, nine people were living at the service. The service supports people with a learning disability, autistic people and people with mental health needs.

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

Right Support:

The service gave people care and support in a safe, clean and well maintained environment that met their needs. People personalised their rooms and had input into other areas of the home. The manager had plans in place to review the living environment to better meet people’s wellbeing, sensory and physical needs in line with best practice.

People and their families or representatives were involved in discussions about how they received support. Staff supported people to make decisions in their best interests. People were supported to access specialist health and social care support to maintain their independence, health and wellbeing.

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.

Staff avoided restricting people whenever possible. When there was no alternative, restrictions were documented, and staff learned from these incidents to avoid or reduce them in the future.

Right Care:

Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it.

Staff, people and families worked together to assess and manage the risks people might face. Where appropriate, staff enabled people to take positive risks. People’s support plans reflected their range of needs and this promoted their wellbeing and quality of life.

With the support of regular agency staff, there were enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. Staff knew people and had the skills to understand and communicate with them in a way which met their individual needs.

Right Culture:

People received safe care and support because trained staff could meet their needs and wishes. Staff understood the strengths, needs or sensitivities people with a learning disability and/or autistic people may have. This meant people received support which was tailored to their needs.

Although there had been staff changes, a core team of staff knew people well and provided consistent support. The culture was positive, and people’s wishes, needs and rights were at the heart of staff actions and service developments.

Staff evaluated the quality of support provided to people, involving the person, their families and other professionals as appropriate. The manager was keen to develop a culture of improvement and transparency.

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 21 April 2021).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the safety of people who lived at the service, restrictive practices and staff skills and training. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from the concerns which had been raised. Please see the safe and well led sections of this full report.

The overall rating for the service has remained good based on the findings of this inspection.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Cherry Tree House 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. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.