Blackwell Road

Updated 1 December 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.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of 2 inspectors.

Service and service type

Blackwell 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. Blackwell 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.

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

The inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

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 reviewed information we had received about the service since registration. We sought feedback from the local authority and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the person who used the service, 2 relatives, 4 support workers, the registered manager, a trainee manager and the person’s GP.

We reviewed a range of records. This included the person’s care and support records, medication administration records and the daily notes recorded by care staff. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures and training records.

Updated 1 December 2023

About the service

Blackwell Road is a residential care home providing personal care to up to a maximum of 1 person. The service provides support to a person who has a learning disability with associated conditions. At the time of our inspection 1 person was using the service.

People’s experience of the 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 assessment and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support

The person received the support they needed to lead a fulfilling and meaningful life. They were provided with support that kept them safe from harm, abuse and neglect, but encouraged independence. They received support with their medicines and staff knew how to identify and act when the person showed signs of anxiety. Staff knew how to support the person.

Right Care

The person received care that was appropriate to their needs and helped them to maintain good health. Their health was monitored, and they had access to health and social care services when needed. Staff had a thorough understanding of the person’s care needs. Other health and social care professionals, relatives and the person themselves were consulted about decisions affecting the care provided.

Right Culture

There was a positive culture at this home. Staff were committed to providing the person with the opportunities to feel part of the community and to lead their life in their chosen way. The person was able to choose what staff they wanted to take them on activities and the provider’s flexible approach to staff enabled this to happen. The person had a consistent team of staff, providing consistency and stability for the person. This has led to them achieving many positive outcomes in their life.

The person was 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.

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 (14 November 2018)

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of Safe and Well-Led only. For those key question not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Blackwell Road 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.