Martindale Road

Updated 11 May 2024

Martindale Road is a care home for up to 7 adults with a learning disability and autistic people. At the time of our assessment, 5 people were living at the service. The assessment started on 8 June 2024 and ended on 14 June 2024. We visited the service on 11 June 2024. We conducted the visit in relation to concerns we had received about staff not following best practice guidance. During the assessment we found evidence of these concerns as well as other concerns. The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 24 September 2022). At this assessment we found the rating for this service is now inadequate. We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it. The service was not able to demonstrate how they were meeting all the underpinning principles of right support, right care, right culture. We identified breaches of 6 Regulations of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 relating to person-centred care, dignity and respect, safe care and treatment, safeguarding service users from abuse, staffing and good governance. This service is being placed in special measures. The purpose of special measures is to ensure that services providing inadequate care make significant improvements. Special measures provide a framework within which we use our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care and provide a timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of care they provide.

Updated 11 May 2024

Before we visited the service, we reviewed information we had received from the provider including notifications of significant events. The visit was unannounced and was conducted by 2 inspectors. During the visit we met 4 people who lived at the service. People could not use words to tell us about their experiences. We observed how they were being cared for and supported. Our observations included 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. We met staff on duty, who included 5 support workers. We also met the regional manager who was overseeing the management of service at the time of our visit. We spoke with 1 relative and 1 external professional on the telephone. Speaking with staff and relatives helped us to understand about people's experiences. We identified people did not always receive person-centred care and support. Staff did not always treat them as individuals or follow best practice guidance. This meant the provider's systems for monitoring the service did not always ensure people had a good quality of experience. Relatives felt people's needs were not always met. Our observations, discussions with the regional manager and records confirmed this.