Archived: College View

Updated 29 December 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

The inspection team consisted of one inspector and an Expert by Experience (ExE). 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

College View 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. College View is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

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 a short period notice of the inspection because some of the people using it could not consent to a home visit from an inspector. This meant that we had to arrange for a ‘best interests’ decision about this.

Inspection activity started on 7 December 2022 and ended on 9 December 2022. We visited the service on 7 December 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last 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 used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We observed interactions between staff and people. We spoke with six members of staff including the nominated individual, the registered manager, administration staff and support workers. We looked at five care plans and reviewed other documentation used in the running of the service, including quality assurance and training records. We spoke with seven relatives over the telephone about their experience of the care provided.

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.

Updated 29 December 2022

About the service

College View is a residential unit providing accommodation and care to young adults aged 19 to 25, who have a wide range of complex learning disabilities, such as autism and related autistic spectrum conditions

(ASC) and who have special needs resulting from behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD). College View is based on the St. Johns School and College campus and is a 52 week a year service, meaning

that people can live at the service all year round. The service is registered to provide accommodation for up to 10 people and at the time of our inspection, there were five people living there.

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

People and their relatives told us they felt safe being supported by staff and that staff had the skills and experience to support them appropriately. One relative told us, “We are very happy with the staff that look after our [relative]. He has only been there since September and the transition was handled beautifully with short notice. All information was passed on with social stories, via videos and school staff. During August we were given the opportunity to visit, to enable him to see his accommodation at his own pace and he’s been allowed to decorate his room. He loves the tea parties and socialising with friends. He calls every morning to say hello and is being helped by the staff to use the telephone himself.”

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.

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

People were supported by staff to work towards their individual goals and objectives. One relative said, “We’re happy with communication and feel very reassured. There seems to be enough staff and we know who to contact with any issues should they arise. [Our relative] comes home at weekends, but is happy to go back and seems to have settled in well. The staff are aiming for increased independence with lots of small things, but all are critical.” During their stay at College View, staff encouraged and supported people to live as independently as possible and to have control over their lives. People were encouraged to express their views using a variety of communication methods and staff actively sought feedback which was discussed with individuals.

Right Care: Care was person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human rights

People who used the service and their relatives told us they felt supported by kind and caring staff. Staff knew people well and ensured they were supported with their social and care needs in a person-centred way.

Right Culture: Ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives. The culture of the service was open, inclusive and empowered individuals to express their views on how the service was run. People and relatives told us they felt confident and were supported to manage potential risks, for example when they accessed the local community. People and their relatives were complimentary of staff and the leadership of the service.

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 was for this service was Good (report published 30 January 2020).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about staffing levels and care delivery. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns.

We undertook a focused inspection. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led. 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 remained Good based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for College View on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

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.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.