We carried out a review of the data available to us about The Poplars on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about The Poplars, you can give feedback on this service.
The Poplars is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care to five people in an extended family house. It offers respite care to adults, all of whom have a learning disability. On the day we visited the home there were four people staying there.
The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were happy having respite stays at The Poplars and relatives praised the service for the support it gave them and their family members. One relative said, “[The Poplars] is run on a small scale, where [people] are individuals with special needs, and are looked after individually by [staff] who love to work there. My [family member] loves going there and looks forward to [their] visits.”
Staff knew how to keep people safe from avoidable harm and abuse; gave people their medicines safely and followed good infection prevention and control procedures. The provider ensured that lessons were learnt when things went wrong.
Staff had undertaken training and received support from senior staff to ensure they could do their job well. People enjoyed food that they had chosen.
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.
People received kind and compassionate care and staff respected people’s privacy, dignity and independence. People were involved in all decisions about their care.
Each person had a fully person-centred support plan, which guided staff on the support the person wanted. Staff offered people a wide range of opportunities to try new activities or do things they had previously enjoyed. People were confident their views would be listened to and complaints would be addressed.
The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence.
The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.
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 requires improvement (report published 18 June 2018) and there was one breach of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when, to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
Follow up
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.
The care service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen
The Poplars is registered to accommodate up to five people with learning disabilities who may also have an autistic spectrum disorder. A respite service is provided for people. The accommodation has five single bedrooms with en suite facilities. Four beds are purchased by the local authority for respite care and one bed is for private purchase or emergencies. There are 60 people who use the respite service. The local authority allocates each person with the number of days respite at the service. The registered manager and senior staff liaise with people and their relatives to ensure the individual allocation is provided. People do not stay at the service with the same people each respite stay. The staff are flexible in the way they provide the service as people can come in for respite for one night, a weekend, a week or more.
At our last inspection on 24 and 29 September 2015 we rated the service ‘Good’. At this inspection we found the service was now rated overall as ‘Requires Improvement’.
This inspection was completed on 22 May 2018 and there were four people receiving a respite service at the time of the inspection.
A registered manager was 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 registered manager was not available as they were not on duty on the day of the inspection.
Staff had not followed the provider’s policy on the administration and recording of medicines, which meant that people had not received their medicines as prescribed.
Staff were aware of how to reduce risks to people. However, although potential risks to people had been recognised, information on how to minimise risks had not always been recorded.
Staff understood their roles and responsibilities in relation to keeping people safe from harm. Staff recruitment was robust and there were enough staff employed to meet people’s support needs.
People received an effective service because their needs were met by staff who were well trained and supported to do their job. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives. Staff supported people in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People's nutritional needs were met by staff who knew each person's needs well. People’s health and wellbeing was maintained and provided by a range of health and social care professionals.
People received good care because staff treated people with kindness, compassion, dignity and respect. People had choices in all aspects of their daily lives and were able to continue with interests and friendships outside the service. Staff ensured people remained as independent as possible.
People did not always receive a service that was responsive. Although people and their relatives (where appropriate) were involved in their personalised support plans and reviews the information about them in relation to their care and support was not always up to date.
People were encouraged to take part in a range of activities that they enjoyed, some were planned and others were the choice of the person at that time. This helped prevent social isolation. Systems were in place to support people with end of life care should this ever be needed.
People had not received a service that was well led. Quality assurance systems to check that the service provided quality care and made improvements where necessary had not identified concerns about the administration and recording of medicines.
There was a registered manager in post who was approachable and understood their responsibilities in relation to notifying CQC of certain events that happened at the service. People, relatives and staff were encouraged to share their views about the service being provided.
We identified one breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.
The Poplars is a care home registered to provide accommodation and non-nursing care for up to five people. Only short stays are offered. During this inspection there were five people in residence.
The home is a converted period property located in a residential area of Histon. The five bedrooms are single rooms and each has an en suite bathroom. Shared areas of the home include a lounge, dining room and kitchen.
This inspection took place on 24 and 29 September 2015 and was unannounced. On the first day of the inspection we visited the home. On the second day we spoke with relatives and staff on the telephone.
There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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 home was managed on a day to day basis by a manager and a team leader who were both present during our inspection. The registered manager was not available.
People were happy at The Poplars and they and their relatives were complimentary about the staff and the management team.
There were enough staff to support people in the way they wanted to be supported. Staff had been trained to recognise and report incidents of harm and any potential risks to people were managed so that the risks were minimised. All the required pre-employment checks had been carried out before staff started work. People were given their medicines safely.
The CQC monitors the operation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), which apply to care services. People’s capacity to make decisions for themselves had been assessed. Applications for authorisation to deprive some people of their liberty had been submitted to the local authority, which meant that people’s rights in this area would be protected.
People were encouraged to help staff cook the meals. They were supported to make choices in all aspects of their daily lives. People were supported to access healthcare professionals when needed.
Relationships between people who lived at The Poplars and the staff were good and staff showed they cared about the people they were supporting. Staff treated people well and respected their privacy. People were encouraged to be as independent as possible.
People were involved in the planning and reviewing of their care. Detailed, personalised information was available to staff so that each person received the support they needed in the way they preferred. A range of activities and outings was offered to people and there were strong links with the local community.
The home was managed well. People, their relatives and the staff were encouraged to give their views about the home and put forward their ideas for improvements. People knew how to complain and felt comfortable with raising any issues with the management team. An effective system was in place to monitor and audit the quality of the service being provided at the home.
Care and support was being regularly reviewed to ensure that peoples' needs were met. There was evidence of people's involvement in the planning of their care and support.
Dietary and nutritional needs were being met and people were able to choose meals and participate in food preparation.
Staff were trained in safeguarding people from harm and they had access to policies and information about how to appropriately report any incidents or concerns to the local authority safeguarding team.
Staff received supervision and ongoing training sessions to ensure that they were able to safely deliver care and support to people.
The service had an effective system to assess and monitor the quality of the services that were provided to people
The Poplar was fully compliant with all the outcomes we inspected and evidence showed that this was a well run service, which met people's needs and was greatly appreciated by their carers.