Breakaway Short Breaks

Updated 4 April 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 Care Act 2014.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection team included one inspector and one 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

Breakaway Short Breaks 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. Breakaway short breaks 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

This inspection was unannounced.

Inspection activity started on 16 February 2023 and ended on 15 March 2023. We visited the care home on 20 February and 7 March 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We also looked at information we held about the service. This information included any statutory notifications that the provider had sent to the CQC. Statutory notifications include information about important events which the provider is required to send to us by law. This information helps support our inspections.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people who used the service, three members of staff and the registered manager. We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and four people’s medication records. We also looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, staff rota and training and service quality assurance auditing records.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate the evidence found. We looked at training data, staff background checks and quality assurance and management oversight records.

Updated 4 April 2023

About the service

Breakaway Short Breaks is a care home and provides respite care for adults with learning disabilities. Some people may also have sensory or physical impairments. The London Borough of Camden provides the service. People stay for varying periods and the service also offers emergency placement, which had been needed for a few people living at the home over the last few years. Breakaway Short Breaks accommodates up to eight people in one adapted bungalow-style building. Five people were using the service at the time of the inspection.

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

Breakaway Short Breaks had improved the management of medicines because the storage and documentation related to medicines management now followed current national guidelines and the provider's policy. The provider’s quality assurance system had also improved to ensure that any emerging issues could be more speedily recognised and responded to. The previous breaches of regulation in respect of this had been addressed.

Risk assessment and management plans and care plans, had improved to include suitable detail and guidance for staff to ensure they had precise information on how to provide safe and personalised care to people.

The provider had systems and policies to help ensure people were protected from the risk of abuse. The provider managed the recruitment process and carried out appropriate checks, which we verified at this inspection, to ensure people were supported by suitable staff. Staff had undergone training about safeguarding people and working with people with learning disabilities and / or autistic spectrum disorder.

People told us, and we observed, that there were positive relationships with the staff supporting them. Staff spoke encouragingly about people who had gone through difficult times and about working supportively and positively with people in making plans for their future.

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 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 autism.

This service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right Support, right care, right culture.

Right Support:

• Model of care and setting maximised people's choice, control and independence. Staff offered people meaningful choices about how they lived their daily life and helped participate in activities that developed people’s interests, whether through educational courses and activities of interest to them.

Right care:

• Care was person-centred and promoted people's dignity, privacy and human rights. People’s privacy was maintained when providing personal care and we observed staff respecting people’s privacy when they wanted to spend time alone in their own room.

Right culture:

• Ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensured people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives. Staff and managers spoke with a great deal of positivity about what they did to recognise how life events affected people and the support provided to encourage and assist people to move forward with their lives.

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 requires improvement (published 9 July 2021) and there were breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

At our last inspection we recommended that the provider seek further training and guidance on effective risk assessment and risk management planning and the service seeks further training and guidance on comprehensive care planning. At this inspection we found that risk assessments and management, as well as care planning, were much improved and safe and the provider had acted on our recommendations.

Why we inspected

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions safe, effective and well-led and contains the requirements and recommendations. 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 changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

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