Autonomy: Victoria & Elizabeth

Updated 8 July 2023

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.

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

The inspection was carried out by 2 inspectors. One inspector visited the service on 22 June 2023 and another inspector contacted staff and stakeholders following our visit to the service.

Service and service type

Autonomy: Victoria & Elizabeth 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. Autonomy: Victoria & Elizabeth 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 provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations. 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 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 (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 2 people who used the service, 11 members of staff including the registered manager, administrator, team leaders and support workers. We also spoke with nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

Updated 8 July 2023

About the service

Autonomy: Victoria & Elizabeth is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 9 people. The service provides support to people with learning disabilities, autistic people, and people with mental health needs. At the time of our inspection there were 7 people using the service.

Autonomy: Victoria & Elizabeth accommodates people across 2 adapted buildings, the buildings contain individual apartments.

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.

Right Support:

Staff were recruited safely, there were sufficient numbers of staff with the necessary training to support people safely and meet their needs.

People were supported by staff to pursue their individual hobbies and interests.

Staff supported people to maintain their health and wellbeing by accessing healthcare services and activities which positively supported their physical and mental health.

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.

Right Care:

People were supported to make decisions for themselves. Staff respected people's choices and decisions. Medicines were managed safely, and we were assured that the provider had sufficient infection, prevention and control measures in place.

Staff delivered care in line with information in people's care plans. Care plans had been updated following our previous inspection and contained person-centred information and clear guidance for staff to follow in line with people’s individual needs.

Right Culture:

The service provided a person-centred culture. People were supported to identify individual goals and plans were developed for staff to follow.

Positive relationships had been developed with people using the service and people felt staff understood them and supported them well.

The service had effective governance arrangements in place to assess the quality and safety of the service.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 16 November 2022).

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

We carried out an unannounced focused inspection of this service on 29 September and 7 October 2022. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment and governance in the service.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions safe, effective, and Well-led which contain those requirements.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Autonomy: Victoria & Elizabeth on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.