Meade Close

Updated 23 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

This inspection was carried out by 2 inspectors and 1 Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Meade Close 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. Meade Close 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

We gave the service 24 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 available to support the inspection. One inspector attended unannounced on the final day of the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 8 November and ended on 14 November. We visited the care home on 8, 9 and 14 November.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 1 person and 5 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke to 11 members of staff, including 2 registered managers, the deputy manager and 8 care staff. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We reviewed a range of records, including 4 people's care records and multiple medicines records. We looked at 2 staff files in relation to recruitment and we examined supervision records for multiple staff. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including quality assurance were reviewed.

Updated 23 December 2023

About the service

Meade Close is a care home and provides the regulated activity of personal care to people who require support with physical and sensory impairments, communication difficulties, moderate to severe learning impairments, complex physical and mental health needs and/or Autism. At the time of our inspection there were 9 people using the service.

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

Right Support:

The service gave people care and support in a safe and clean environment that had been adapted to meet their physical needs. People had a choice about their living environment and were able to personalise their rooms. Staff supported people to take part in activities and pursue their interests. The registered manager was working with families and staff to further improve this area to ensure people lived fulfilling lives.

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.

Right Care:

The service had enough staff to meet people's needs. We have made a recommendation about positive behaviour support and person-centred care in the effective domain of the report. People received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people's privacy and dignity. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse and 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.

Right Culture:

There was an open and transparent culture within the management team with a clear focus on improving the home. It was acknowledged short term and long-term sickness had impacted on the quality of care and plans were progressing to recruit new staff and to embed a new senior team. People and those important to them, including advocates, were involved in planning their care. Staff ensured risks of a closed culture were minimised so that people received support based on transparency, respect and inclusivity.

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 (Report published 22 May 2023).

Recommendations

At our last inspection we recommended implementing RESTORE2 as a tool to assist in recognising health conditions likely to deteriorate. A programme of training had been implemented promptly after the last inspection.

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to poor leadership, safeguarding concerns, medication issues, shortage of staff and maintenance of equipment and premises. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, effective and well led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns. We have found evidence the provider needed to make improvements and the provider had a clear plan in place to achieve this.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Meade Close 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.