Dover Drive Short Stay Service

Updated 31 December 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. 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 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Dover Drive Short Stay Service is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is a short stay service and people are often out. We wanted to be sure there would be people and staff at service to speak with us.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the 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 inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with five relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke six members of staff including the registered manager, deputy manager, senior support worker and support workers. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records who regularly stay at the service and medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and policies. We spoke with three professionals who regularly worked with the service.

Updated 31 December 2019

About the service

Dover Drive Short Stay Service is a residential care service that provides short stay services to people with learning disabilities and physical disabilities. This service is currently registered for six people over two adjoining houses, numbers 18 and 20 Dover Drive. However, the provider is in the process of changing this to providing a short stay service to four people in one house, 20 Dover Drive. At the time of inspection two people were using the short service service.

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 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.

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.

People's medicines were managed safely and effectively. People had person centred support plans in place. The information was used to personalise support to meet each person’s needs. Risks to people were assessed and appropriate plans were in place to keep people safe.

The provider and registered manager had audits and checks on different aspects of the service in place, for example, health and safety and medicines. These were effective in identifying if there were areas needing to be improved. Incident and accidents were analysed for patterns and trends.

Staff were recruited following safe processes and received appropriate inductions into the service. Staff also received supervisions and attended regular meetings. Feedback from staff we spoke with was all positive and we were told how supportive the registered manager, deputy manager and senior were.

Relatives were happy with the service and they felt people were safe whilst using the service. There were sufficient numbers of staff in place and they understood how to provide people with safe, person centred care and support.

During the inspection we observed warm and comfortable relationships between staff and people using the service. People were encouraged and supported to maintain and improve their independence.

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 22 May 2017).

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.

Why we inspected; This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.