Avon's House

Updated 25 September 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:

One inspector carried out this inspection.

Service and service type:

Avon’s House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager who had not yet registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection:

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small, and people are often out, and we wanted to be sure there would be people at home to speak with us.

What we did before the inspection:

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We received feedback from the local authorities who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection:

We visited the service on 29 August 2019. We spoke with three people who use the service about their experience of the care provided. We observed interactions between staff and people who used the service. We spoke with two staff members, one relative, the deputy manager, the manager and a visiting healthcare professional.

We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records which included all aspects of care and risk. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment, training and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits, policies and procedures were reviewed.

On 2 September 2019 we spoke to one relative about their experience of the service.

After the inspection:

The registered manager sent us further evidence in relation to training data and quality assurance records.

Updated 25 September 2019

About the service:

Avon’s House is a small service which provided personal care to five people living with a learning disability or autism at the time of this inspection. Two people lived at the service and three people used the service when they needed to as respite. People had their own bedrooms and shared facilities such as the kitchen, the bathrooms and the garden.

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 with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.

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

People were positive about their care. One person told us, ‘‘I love it at Avon’s House because it is such a great place. The staff are all very kind, polite and caring.’’

The service applied 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.

People were supported with kindness, respect and compassion by a staff team who had gotten to know people as individuals. There was a focus on people making choices about their support and the staff team promoted people to be as independent as possible. People received personalised care and were communicated to in their preferred communication methods.

People were supported to take part in a wide array of community-based activities and to take part in daily living skills in the home. Staff members encouraged people to try new things and to be involved in choosing how they spent their time. The manager and staff team had a passion for promoting people’s involvement in the local community.

People were protected from harm and abuse in all areas including medicines and infection control, by systems put in place at the service. People had assessments in place which enabled them to take positive risks. There were enough trained and knowledgeable staff to support people safely and to enable people to do what they wanted throughout the day.

People were positive about the way they were supported with food and drink, and how they were involved in cooking and preparing meals. People were supported to see health care professionals where this support was needed. People had access to a detailed complaints procedure which was available in accessible formats if people needed to make a complaint.

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.

The manager completed audits to monitor the quality of the service. However, the manager acknowledged that these did not always happen as regularly as the provider said they would. They manager told us that they would ensure that this was improved upon.

People and their relatives were encouraged to feed back about their care and support and were involved in service delivery at all levels. The manager and the staff team worked with other organisations to ensure good outcomes for people using the service. People were positive about the management of the service. The manager was passionate about putting plans in place to continue to improve the way people were supported.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection:

This service was registered with us on 08/09/2017 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on when the service first registered with the Care Quality Commission.

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.