Blossom View Respite Home

Blossom View Respite Home is a residential care home providing personal care and short breaks for up to 4 people. The service provides support to people with a learning disability and autistic people. At the time of our inspection,there were 4 people living at the service and 4 people receiving respite care.

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.

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

Right Support: Staff supported people to have the maximum possible choice, control and independence. Although staff and managers had values to support people to lead confident and inclusive lives, the environment of the home made this difficult. There was a large communal lounge and dining area that was not conducive to meeting the varied and complex needs of some of the people who used the service. The type and layout of the building therefore did not meet all the components of right support, right care, right culture.

Best practice guidance for people with a learning disability recommends living alone or with a small number of other people in shared housing with a small-scale domestic feel. The provider had tried to make the service homely, with people involved in choosing decorations and soft furnishings. There was also a smaller lounge for people to use. People who preferred quiet had a bedroom away from the main hub of the home, wherever possible.

Right Care: People received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to their individual needs. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. People who had individual ways of communicating, using body language, sounds, Makaton (a form of sign language), pictures and symbols could interact comfortably with staff and others involved in their care and support because staff had the necessary skills to understand them.

Right Culture: People were supported by staff who understood best practice in relation to the wide range of strengths, impairments, or sensitivities people with a learning disability and/or autistic people may have. This meant people received compassionate and empowering care tailored to their needs. Staff knew and understood people well and were responsive, supporting their aspirations to live a quality life of their choosing.

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 good (published 14 November 2017).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the providers understanding of the ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance. As a result, 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.

The overall rating for the service has remained good based on the findings of this inspection.

We found no evidence during this inspection people were at risk of harm from this concern.

Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Blossom View Respite Home 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.

The home is located in North Sheffield close to local shops and transport links and is part of a wider complex which incorporates a café, education, businesses, leisure facilities; day services a hydro pool and rebound (trampoline).

There was a registered manager employed at the service. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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.

This was the service’s first inspection since their registration with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in December 2016.

We carried out this inspection on 17 October 2017. The inspection was unannounced. This meant no-one at the service knew we were planning to visit. On the day of inspection there were two people living at Blossom View. The deputy manager told us the service currently had 17 people registered for respite care and support; no people were receiving respite support on the day of our inspection.

The registered manager was on annual leave the day of our inspection. The deputy manager capably assisted with the inspection.

People were able to express their happiness and satisfaction with the care they received by facial expression (smiles), body languages and gestures.

People’s relatives spoke positively about the standard of care and support their family member received.

Staff were aware of safeguarding procedures and knew what to do if an allegation was made or they suspected abuse.

We found systems were in place to make sure people received their medicines safely.

Staff recruitment procedures ensured people’s safety was promoted.

There were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs safely and effectively.

The service followed the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) Code of practice and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The registered provider’s policies and systems supported this practice.

People enjoyed the food provided and were supported to receive adequate food and drink to remain healthy.

We found the home was clean, bright and well maintained. The bedrooms of people who were living at the home on a permanent basis had been personalised and communal areas were comfortably furnished.

People were treated with dignity and respect and their privacy was protected. Relatives we spoke with made positive comments about the care provided by staff.

Staff were receiving regular training and supervision so they were skilled and competent to carry out their role.

We found people’s support plans and risk assessments were reviewed regularly and in response to any change in needs.

Staff knew the people they were supporting and provided a personalised service. Support plans were in place detailing how people wished to be supported. People receiving support, or their relative were involved in making decisions about their care.

We saw people participated in a range of daily activities both in and outside of the home which were meaningful and promoted independence.

There was a comprehensive complaints policy and procedure. This was clearly displayed in the home and in the statement of purpose. Relatives said they could speak with staff if they had any worries or concerns and they would be listened to and action would be taken to address any concerns they had voiced.

There were effective systems in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service provided. Regular checks and audits were undertaken to make sure full and safe procedures were adhered to.

Staff told us they felt they had a very good team. Staff and relatives said the registered manager was approachable and communication was good within the service.

The service had up to date policies and procedures which reflected current legislation and good practice guidance.

Safety and maintenance checks for the premises and equipment were in place and up to date.