Gorse Farm

Updated 15 July 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 Care Act 2008.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

This inspection was undertaken by two inspectors.

Service and service type

Gorse Farm 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. Gorse Farm 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 there was not a registered manager in post. The manager had submitted an application to register with us. The manager was not present on the day of the inspection.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider had sent us within their annual Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We also used the information we had obtained during a direct monitoring approach call with the manager in April 2022. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people to gather their experiences of the care and support provided. We spoke with nine staff including, the operations director, senior support workers, permanent and agency support workers. We reviewed a range of records. This included three people's care records and multiple medication records, three staff recruitment files, and records of the checks the management team and the provider completed to assure themselves people received a safe, good quality service.

After the inspection

We spoke with five relatives via the telephone to gather their experiences of the care and support provided. We also spoke with the manager and looked at training data and quality assurance records.

Updated 15 July 2022

About the service

Gorse Farm is a residential care home providing personal care to 13 people at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 14 people with a sensory impairment, learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder.

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

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.

Based on our review of the safe and well-led key questions the service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting some of the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right support:

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. Environmental risk and some aspects of medicine management required improvement. Some action was taken to address this. Staff were recruited in line with the provider’s procedure.

Right care:

The prevention and control of infection was not always managed safely and in line with the provider's guidance and procedures. People received personalised care and their human rights were promoted and protected. People felt safe. Relatives had no concern about their family members safety. Staff understood their responsibilities to keep people safe. Risks associated with people's care were well-managed. There were sufficient staff to provide people’s care and to support people to do things they liked and enjoyed.

Right culture:

Service oversight and audits used to monitor the quality and safety of the service required improvement. The manager promoted a positive and person-centred culture within the home and led by example. Staff felt supported and valued. The manager was working with relatives to improve communication and to gather their feedback about the service provided. The management team and staff shared a commitment to continuously learning and worked in partnership with other professionals to achieve good outcomes for people.

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 19 June 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

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.

The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

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 and Recommendations

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have identified breaches in relation to infection prevention and control and the management of the service at this inspection.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.