Together Nest Lane

Together Nest Lane is located in Wellingborough and is registered to provide accommodation and personal care to people with mental health needs and younger adults. It provides care for up to eight people. At the time of the inspection five people were living in the home, two of these people were in receipt of personal care.

Together Nest Lane offers recovery-focused support for 12-36 months to people that have moved from hospital or a secure unit. The home assists people to understand their thoughts and emotions, and to identify how these impact on their behaviour. People are supported to develop strategies to manage their thoughts and emotions.

Together Nest Lane was inspected on the 17 November 2015 and rated Good. The last inspection was undertaken on the 21 November 2017. At the time of this inspection personal care was not being provided to people living at the home and the inspection was not rated. This comprehensive inspection took place on the 3 and 4 January 2019 and was announced.

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 fully aware of their legal responsibilities and was committed to providing excellent leadership and support to staff.

The registered manager was knowledgeable about all aspects of the service. The provider had robust systems and processes in place to monitor the quality of the service. The management team were continually striving to make improvements by seeking feedback from people, and staff and reviewed areas of improvement during regular clinical governance meetings.

People received care and support from a staff team that were inspired and had a positive sense of direction and strong leadership to give people an enhanced quality of life. The vision and values of the provider in providing high quality person centred care was central to the ethos of the service. People’s care was centred around them as individuals and they were fully engaged in making decisions about their care. Without exception staff and the management team actively supported people’s independence and meeting their hopes and dreams. Assessments and care plans considered people's values, beliefs, hobbies and interests along with their goals and aspirations for the future.

People were treated with kindness, compassion, dignity and respect. Their rights to privacy and freedom of choice were fully upheld. The provider was committed to ensuring they had the right staff with the right approach and understanding to meet people's individual needs.

People were protected from the risk of harm. Staff had been trained in safeguarding people and understood how to report any concerns of abuse. Risks to people's safety were comprehensively assessed to ensure they were effectively managed. The provider was proactive in considering other factors that may cause people distress and supported them to develop coping strategies.

People were protected by safe recruitment procedures to ensure staff were suitable to work in care services. Staff received in-depth training for their role and received ongoing support and supervision to work effectively.

The provider worked in partnership with other healthcare professionals and external agencies to continuously provide a service that was based on best practice, and actively sought their feedback to continuously improve the care provided.

The provider had systems in place to assess and identify the support people required before receiving care from Together Nest Lane. People living at the home were fully engaged in directing their care and their choices were respected by staff working at the home. People had personalised their rooms with their own belongings.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the polices and systems in the service supported this practice.

Staff embraced peoples social and cultural diversities, values and beliefs. The management team provided training to staff and people living in the home regarding people’s values and beliefs so people knew how to support each other.

People’s concerns were responded to promptly and addressed through a formal complaints process.

We found at this inspection that personal care was not being provided to the people living in the home, as they were able to support themselves with all personal care requirements. The service had previously provided accommodation and personal care to people at the service but as the home was not providing people with a regulated activity at the time of our inspection we were not able to rate the service as we could not fully assess how safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led the service was. Services that do not provide a regulated activity are not required to be registered with the Care Quality Commission.

Systems were in place should the service begin providing the regulated activity once again, and this report reflects the finding on our inspection.

There was a registered manager 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.

Staff had an understanding of safeguarding procedures that should be followed to report abuse and risk assessments were in place to manage risk within a person's life. Staff were sufficiently trained in this area.

The staff recruitment procedures ensured that appropriate pre-employment checks were carried out to ensure only suitable staff worked at the service. Adequate staffing levels were in place.

Staff induction training and on-going training was provided to ensure they had the skills, knowledge and support they needed to perform their roles.

Staff were well supported by the registered manager and senior team, and had regular one to one

supervisions.

People living at the service were not receiving personal care, but they told us that consent was gained before any support was provided.

People told us staff treated them with kindness, dignity and respect and spent time getting to know them and their specific needs and wishes.

Systems were in place to involve people in their own care planning and contribute to the way in which they were supported.

The provider had systems in place to monitor the quality of the service as and when it developed and had a process in place which ensured people could raise any complaints or concerns.