Housing 21 - Laurel Gardens

Updated 22 February 2024

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

This service provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is bought or rented and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service.

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 18 hours' notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity commenced on 30 January 2024 and finished on 6 February 2024. We visited the provider's office location on 30 January 2024.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from commissioners 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 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 gathered feedback from 5 people who used the service and 2 relatives or representatives about their experience of the care provided. We gathered feedback from 7 staff, including the registered manager, an assistant care manager, an administrator, 3 care staff and the provider’s regional manager.

We reviewed a range of records. These included 4 people's care records and multiple medication records. We checked 3 staff recruitment and induction files. We reviewed records relating to the management and safety of the service, including audits, risks analysis, feedback and training records.

Updated 22 February 2024

About the service

Housing 21 – Laurel Gardens provides care and support to adults living in specialist 'extra care' housing living with dementia, mental health, learning disabilities, physical disability and sensory impairments. At the time of our inspection visit there were 36 people receiving care. The service consists of 70 two-bedroom flats and bungalows.

People's experience of the service and what we found

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

Right Support

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. People were involved in their risk assessments and safety care planning arrangements. This helped to ensure people received the support they wanted. People were supported to receive their medicines safely from staff who had received training in safe medicines practices.

Right Care

There were enough staff to meet people's packages of care. People said staff arrived when they expected them and did everything that was required of them. Staff understood their role in safeguarding people from the risks of abuse or discrimination and their responsibility to record and report any concerns. The provider had a clear management structure that monitored the quality of care to drive improvements in service delivery.

Right Culture

People and relatives told us the registered manager and senior staff were visible in the home and were very approachable. People were invited to complete surveys and provide feedback on the quality of the care they received and make suggestions to develop the service further. Staff told us they enjoyed working at Laurel Gardens and valued their role in supporting people to live as independently as possible. Staff told us there was a 'no blame' culture in the service and learning was shared to improve outcomes for people.

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 10 January 2020) and there was a breach of regulations.

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

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service and to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.

We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key questions 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 Housing 21 – Laurel Gardens 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.