The Kent Autistic Trust - 118 Beaver Lane

Updated 1 October 2019

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.

Service and service type

The Kent Autistic Trust – 118 Beaver Lane is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with CQC. 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 reviewed the information we held about the service including previous inspection reports. We also looked at notifications about important events that had taken place in the service, which the provider is required to tell us by law.

We contacted health and social care professionals to obtain feedback about their experience of the service. These professionals included local authority commissioners and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. Healthwatch told us they had not been to the service since we last inspected and had not received any information about the service. We received feedback a local authority social worker. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

People were not able to verbally express their experiences of living at the service. We observed staff interactions with people and observed care and support in communal areas. We spoke with four people’s relatives.

We spoke with seven staff including; specialist support workers, a senior support worker, the assistant manager, the registered manager, the quality and compliance manager and a member of the provider’s positive behaviour support team.

We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

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 1 October 2019

About the service

The Kent Autistic Trust – 118 Beaver Lane is a small residential care home providing personal care to five people with learning disabilities and/or autistic spectrum disorder aged 18 years and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to six people.

The Kent Autistic Trust – 118 Beaver Lane is a unique service which has a mixture of self-contained flats and bedrooms with shared communal spaces.

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 continued to apply 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. 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 provider and staff continued to be exceptionally responsive and worked continuously to make improvements to the service and provide people with high quality care. The provider and staff demonstrated a detailed knowledge of the people they supported and over time had developed trusting relationships with them, so that people felt safe receiving support. The provider had been extremely responsive to people’s needs and designed services specifically to meet people’s changing needs. People were happy and smiling. The sounds and movements people made mirrored the descriptions of the ‘happy’ sounds and movements within their care records. Relatives were extremely happy with the service. Relatives told us, “I’m really happy with Beaver Lane and [registered manager] and the staff. Most staff have been there a long time” and “Staff are kind and caring.”

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.

The service continued to provide outstanding care and support to people enabling them to live as fulfilled and meaningful lives as possible. The service was innovative and used assistive technology to enable people to be as independent as possible, such as electronic tablets, smart speakers and flashing doorbells. People were able to have privacy and independence with staff accessible nearby. People who had previously displayed behaviours that other people may find challenging were able to live their life to their fullest potential.

The leadership and coaching provided by the registered manager and provider's team ensured that 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 every member of the Kent Autistic Trust from the chief executive to colleagues. Every staff member enjoyed working with people with autism. 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, and would be happy to have them care for their own family.

People had positive relationships with support 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.

Care plans clearly 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.

Staff and people received additional support and guidance from the provider's positive behaviour support team and strategies were in place to manage any incidents of heightened anxiety. Staff received regular support from their manager.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The service was rated Outstanding at the last inspection on 06 December 2016 (the report was published on 01 February 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.