We carried out a review of the data available to us about Village Farm on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Village Farm, you can give feedback on this service.
Village Farm is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to six people whose needs are associated with learning disabilities and autism. The home is situated in the village of Norton Disney, which is approximately seven miles from both the city of Lincoln and the market town of Newark-on-Trent. At the time of this inspection six people were living at the service.
The home worked within the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensured that people could 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’s experience of using this service
People and relatives were positive about the staff and the management team. People told us staff were very caring and compassionate and that staff knew them extremely well. Staff told us that it was a very happy team and they all worked well together.
People were protected against abuse and discrimination and their rights were upheld. Safe recruitment was followed to ensure the staff employed were suitable to care for people and shared the values of the service.
People received their medicines as prescribed. These were administered by staff who were competent to do so. The registered provider was following relevant guidance for infection control. The environment was clean and well maintained.
Staff received training and were well supported to ensure they had the skills, knowledge and confidence they needed to perform their roles effectively. Staff were very knowledgeable about people's needs and supported people to remain as independent as possible.
People were well supported to eat and drink enough to maintain their health and their dietary needs were well supported.
There was a strong person-centred culture throughout the service and staff were skilled in providing compassionate and caring support for people. People's dignity was very well managed with thoughtfulness and care was individualised with people's choices and preferences fully respected.
Staff demonstrated caring values and showed a very positive regard for what was important and mattered to people. The trust developed between people and staff helped promote people's independence, confidence and helped them achieve positive outcomes. Respect for equality, diversity and inclusion was fully embedded within the service and in how staff communicated with and worked with people.
Staff promoted people's right to make their own decisions wherever possible and respected the choices they made. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
Where people lacked capacity, the registered provider and registered manager worked within mental capacity legislation and consulted with relevant people on important decisions made in their best interest.
People and their relatives were involved in reviewing their care and making any necessary changes. Information was provided in formats that were accessible to people. When it was needed staff worked well with a range of external health and social care professionals to ensure people’s existing and changing needs were being fully met
A process was in place which ensured any concerns or complaints people and their relatives may have had could be raised. Concerns were acted upon quickly and lessons were learned through positive two-way communication.
The service was consistently well managed by a registered provider and registered manager who worked closely together and demonstrated strong values, led by example and maintained an open and a caring culture.
The registered provider had systems in place to monitor quality and was open to the continuous development of the service. They had implemented technology to obtain more feedback about the services provided and to assist them in the monitoring of people's safety, wellbeing and care. Any improvements identified as needed were driven through constructive engagement with people, their relatives, staff and stakeholders.
Systems were also in place to enable the registered provider to monitor accidents and incidents to identify any lessons learned and make any improvements when they had identified this was required.
Rating at last inspection
At the last inspection we gave the service a rating of ‘Good’ (published 02 November 2017).
Why we inspected
Since our previous rating was awarded the registered provider of the service has altered its legal entity but all of the facilities and arrangements for care remained the same as when we last inspected. We have therefore used the previous rating to inform our planning and decisions about the rating at this inspection.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor intelligence 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.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk