Cambian Asperger Syndrome Services Limited - 30 Milton Road

Updated 9 July 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

One adult social care inspector carried out the inspection.

Service and service type

30 Milton Road is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. This service did not provide nursing care.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

The first day of this inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since our last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspections.

During the inspection

We spoke with five of the eight people who used the service and spent some time with them. We observed and listened to how staff interacted with people. During the visit we spoke with the registered manager, the head of care, and three members of staff. Immediately following the inspection, two people wrote to us to give their very positive views on living at Milton Road.

We observed how people were supported and, to establish the quality of care people received we looked at records related to people’s care and support. This included two people’s care plans, care delivery records and eight people’s Medicine Administration Records (MARS). We also looked at records relating to the management of the service including: staffing rota’s, staff recruitment, supervision and training records, premises maintenance records, quality assurance records, training and staff meeting minutes and a range of the providers policies and procedures.

After the inspection

Immediately following the inspection we spoke with four relatives and reviewed training schedules and action plans the provider had sent us.

Updated 9 July 2019

About the service

30 Milton Road is a care home registered to provide accommodation and personal care for up to eight people diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorders and learning disabilities. At the time of this inspection there were eight people living at the home.

30 Milton Road had not originally been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This was because the service was registered for eight people and the current guidance implemented in 2017 reflects that smaller numbers of people living together have much better experiences and achieve better outcomes. However, the registered manager and staff demonstrated they understood the values that underpin Registering the Right Support. 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 of them.

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

People told us they were happy and comfortable living at 30 Milton Road. They told us they liked the staff who knew them well and provided their support and care with kindness, patience, respect and dignity.

We received positive feedback from relatives about the kindness, compassion and professionalism of staff. Staff understood how to identify and report abuse and were well supported in their roles. Staff received regular supervision meetings and a variety of training courses to enable them to carry out their roles competently.

Risks to people’s health, safety and well being were assessed and management plans put in place to ensure risks were reduced as much as possible.

People were supported by safely recruited staff and there were enough appropriately trained and experienced staff to support people in ways that suited them. Communication styles and methods were tailored to individual people and staff supported people to understand the choices available to them.

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 were enabled to have choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible.

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.

The service worked collaboratively and closely with health care professionals to ensure people received the best care and support at all times.

People’s health care needs were met and staff supported them to see healthcare professionals when appropriate. Medicines were managed, stored and administered safely. People were supported to take their medicines safely by staff who had received the appropriate levels of training.

Staff were responsive to people’s changing support needs and adapted care and support according to their health needs.

There was a clear complaints policy and relatives told us they knew how to make a complaint if the needed to and felt any concerns would be taken seriously and action taken straight away.

There was a clear management structure and people, relatives and staff spoke highly of the registered manager who ensured there was an open, supportive, friendly culture at the home.

There were robust quality assurance systems in place to drive improvement and ensure the home offered a safe, effective, caring and responsive service.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good, (published December 2016).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Cambian Asperger Syndrome Services Limited- 30 Milton Road on our website at www.cqc.org.uk