About the service Clarendon Wellbeing House is a ‘supported living’ service that provides personal care to people with a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder. Each person has their own room with shared lounge, garden, kitchen and dining area. The service provides 24-hour support to up to three people. At the time of our inspection one person was receiving personal care.
Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
We identified concerns in relation to staff recruitment and governance. Staff were not always recruited safely and systems were not effective in identifying issues found during our inspection, such as, gaps in care records. This put people’s health and safety at risk.
Medicines were managed safely.
People’s nutritional and health needs were met.
Staff received training to help them effectively carry out their role. Safe infection control practices were not always followed in line with government guidelines for regular testing of staff and visitors. We have made a recommendation in relation to regular testing for staff and visitors.
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.
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right Support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.
The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of right support, right care, right culture. The registered manager and staff demonstrated a commitment to people and strong person-centred values. People’s choices were respected and staff supported them to achieve good outcomes. The environment promoted choice, control and independence in a respected and dignified setting.
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 7 January 2019, and this was the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned comprehensive inspection based on the service no longer being dormant after becoming active in May 2020.
Enforcement and Recommendations
We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.
We have identified breaches in relation to staff recruitment and good governance. We found no evidence that people had come to harm from these breaches. The provider and manager took prompt action to mitigate risks we found.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.