Archived: Kingston House

Updated 28 December 2019

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by two Inspectors

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in two ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

The service had a manager in place who had applied to become the registered manager with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they, alongside the provider, will be legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We gave a short period of notice of the inspection to allow people the opportunity to consent to a home visit from an inspector.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. We looked to see if statutory notifications had been sent by the provider. A statutory notification contains information about important events which the provider is required to send to us by law. We reviewed information that had been sent to us by the public, the local authority safeguarding team, and the local clinical commissioning group (CCG). We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with two people who use the service. We spoke with a range of staff including the Managing Director, the manager, the Quality Assurance lead, one team leader and five care staff.

We looked at the care and support records for five people who used the service including medication records. We looked at accident and incident records, safeguarding records, training, staff rotas and records relating to the management of the service.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and clarification of those who received a regulated activity. We spoke with two relatives of people who use the service.

Updated 28 December 2019

About the service

Kingston House is a supported living service. Kingston House is a collection of 30 self-contained flats with an adjoining central communal area for people to access. At the time of the inspection the service was providing personal care to eight people all of whom had learning disabilities.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care, CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. Personal care is support related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence.

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

People were consulted regarding the development of their care, through reviews and surveys. The manager had implemented a new quality assurance system to better identify where improvements in care delivery are needed.

The manager told us they were working to develop a more open culture. The staff had a good level of training and were equipped to meet the needs of people using the service.

We found the care delivery was person-centred including involvement from people using the service. Communication was promoted to ensure people were able to effectively communicate and become involved in their care. The service promoted the maintenance and development of relationships of people with others of importance to them.

Professionals and relatives of people using the service told us people were safe. The service ensured staff were recruited safely and there were sufficient numbers of staff supporting people. The service managed risk in a proactive manner while allowing people using the service to continue with new experiences.

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

The service did apply the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence.

The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.

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 location was Good (published 06 May 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.