Charlton Road

Updated 5 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.

Inspection team

One inspector carried out this inspection on both days of the inspection.

Service and service type

Charlton Road 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. Charlton Road is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

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 a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. 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 (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 the relatives of three people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with two members of staff., the area manager and the registered manager. We reviewed a range of records. These included three people’s care records and medication records. We looked at staff records in relation to recruitment, training, supervision and other records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures and quality assurance records.

Updated 5 October 2022

About the service

30 Charlton Road is a care home providing accommodation and personal care support for up to four people with learning and physical disabilities. At the time of the inspection the home was providing care and support to four people.

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.

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

We found the outcomes for people using this service reflected the principles and values of Right support, right care, right culture. These included promotion of choice and control, inclusion and independence. People’s support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.

Right support

People’s care and support needs were assessed before they started to use the service. Risks to people had been assessed to ensure their needs were met safely. Staff supported people to achieve their aspirations and goals. Staff supported people to take part in activities and pursue their interests in their local area.

Right care

People received kind and compassionate care. Staff respected people’s privacy, dignity and promoted their independence. Staff understood and responded to people’s individual care and support needs. People had a choice about their living environment and were able to personalise their rooms. They had access to health care professionals when they needed them.

Right culture

People received good care, support and treatment because staff were trained in areas related to their care and support needs and they received regular supervision from the registered manager. People and those important to them were involved in planning their care. People, their relatives and staff views were considered through questionnaires and meetings. There was a complaints procedure in place in formats that people could understand.

We found breaches of our regulations because staff were not always following Government COVID 19 Guidelines (current on the first day of our inspection) by wearing appropriate PPE and ensuring visitors had completed COVID 19 tests.

We also found that records essential for the running of the service were not readily available to demonstrate peoples care needs and safety was always effectively managed. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern.

The provider had safeguarding and whistleblowing procedures in place and staff had a clear understanding of these. People’s medicines were managed safely. Appropriate recruitment checks took place before staff started working at the service. There were enough staff available to meet people’s needs.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Peoples preferences for their end of life care was held in their care records.

The registered manager and staff worked in partnership with health and social care providers to deliver an effective service. There were systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service and any learning was identified and acted on. Staff said they received good support from the registered manager and deputy manager.

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.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

The last rating for this service was good (published 12 October 2019).

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Charlton Road on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.