St Peters Row Delarue Close

Updated 8 April 2020

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.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

St Peters Row Delarue Close is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

We contacted health and social care professionals to obtain feedback about their experience of the service. These professionals included local authority commissioners, local authority safeguarding teams and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion which gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all of this information to plan our inspection. Healthwatch told us they had not visited the service or received any comments or concerns since the last inspection. A local authority commissioner also told us they had not visited the service in over one year.

During the inspection

We spoke with six people who used the service and six relatives about their experience of the care provided. Relatives sometimes referred to the service by the provider's name in their feedback. Some people were not able to verbally express their experiences of living at the service or were sleeping. We observed staff interactions with people and observed care and support in communal areas.

We spoke with five staff including; support workers, team leaders, the registered manager and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We also spoke with a community nurse who visited the service regularly.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s personal records, support plans and a range of people’s medicines charts, risk assessments, staff rotas and two staff recruitment records. We also reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures and meeting minutes.

After the inspection

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

Updated 8 April 2020

About the service

St Peters Row Delarue Close is a small residential care home which is made up of three small houses. Each house has its own front door and own staff team. The service provides personal care to 15 people with learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 15 people.

The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can 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 using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.

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

The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence.

The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.

People were happy living at the service. Relatives said, “[Person] has lived there at least five years, she classes it as her home. She comes home to us every two weeks for a week and says she likes having two homes. We don’t worry at all” and “They meet her needs wonderfully, I could not ask for better.”

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.

Staff recognised that people had the capacity to make day to day choices and supported them to do so. People were encouraged and supported to be independent. People were engaging in the community, for example utilising their local community to use ordinary community resources, shops, access day services and activities to ensure they had a good day. People were also supported to take holidays both in the UK and abroad.

The registered manager and staff continued to be responsive and worked continuously to make improvements to the service and provide people with high quality care. The registered manager and staff demonstrated a detailed knowledge of the people they supported. Over time they had developed trusting relationships, so that people felt safe receiving support. The provider had been responsive to people’s changing needs. People were happy and smiling. Relatives were extremely happy with the service.

The service continued to provide good quality care and support to people enabling them to live fulfilled and meaningful lives. The service was innovative and used assistive technology to enable people to be as independent as possible, such as electronic tablets, movement sensors and epilepsy alarms. People were able to have privacy and independence with staff accessible nearby if support was needed.

Staff had a full understanding of people's support needs and had the skills and knowledge to meet them. Staff had received training, regular supervisions and appraisals. Staff were encouraged to continuously learn and develop by completing qualifications and additional learning. The provider continued to work with other organisations to ensure staff received current and best practice training and information.

Staff were extremely positive about the support they received from the registered manager and the provider. Every staff member enjoyed working with people at the service, this was evident as many staff had worked for the service for many years. Every staff member demonstrated passion and commitment to providing the best possible care and opportunities for people to live life to the full. This had led to a positive workplace culture, with staff feeling their voices were listened to. Staff told us they were proud of working for the organisation.

People had positive relationships with staff that knew them well. There were enough staff available to meet people's needs and give individual care and support. Staff had been recruited safely. There was a strong emphasis on person-centred care. People were supported to plan their support where possible and they received a service that was based on their individual needs and wishes. The service was flexible and responded to changes in people's needs.

Support plans detailed people’s preferred routines, wishes and preferences. They detailed what people were able to do for themselves and what support was required from staff to aid their independence wherever possible. People were involved in review meetings about their support and aspirations. They were involved in setting goals and targets and were supported by staff to achieve these.

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 for this service was Good (published 23 August 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information 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.