Lynton House

Updated 16 September 2022

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

One inspector undertook the inspection.

Service and service type

Lynton House is a domiciliary care agency. This service provides care and support to people living in their own houses and flats, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 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 in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 4 July 2022 and ended on 21 July 22.

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 statutory notifications we had received. These are events or important information that the service must tell us about, by law.

During the inspection

We spent time with and spoke with people, relatives, three members of staff, the registered manager and the nominated individual of DW Complex Care. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. To help us assess and understand how people's care needs were being met we reviewed people's care records. We also reviewed records relating to the running of the service. These included staff recruitment and training records, medicine records and records associated with the provider's quality assurance systems.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.

Updated 16 September 2022

About the service

Lynton House is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support to people with a learning disability, autism or who have complex needs associated with their mental health who live in their own homes. The service supports people on a 24-hour basis, enabling them to live independently.

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

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.

Right support: Model of care and setting maximises people’s choice, control and Independence.

People were able to choose how they spent their time and were supported by staff to take part in activities and pursue their interests in their local area/community. People were supported and encouraged to be independent and staff had a good awareness of people's needs and preferences. However, we found more work was needed to embed the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA).

Right care: Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human rights. However more work was needed to ensure the language used within people’s daily notes and incident reports was also reflective of these principals. Staff knew people well and understood how to communicate effectively with people. Staff spoke about people in a dignified and respectful way and it was clear from our conversations that staff had developed good relationships with people. However, support plans were not always reflective of the current level of risk associated with providing support.

Right culture: The ethos, values and attitudes of managers and staff helped to ensure people using services were enabled to lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives. The registered manager and staff spoke passionately about promoting people's wellbeing, safety, and security. Staff understood their role in making sure that people came first, and their care and support was tailored to their individual needs and preferences.

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 04 August 2020 and this is the first rating inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection for a newly registered service.

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 safe care and treatment, recruitment and governance at this inspection. We have also made recommendations in relation to deprivation of liberties safeguards (DoLS), staff induction and records.

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.