Archived: Expect Limited - 6 Belvidere Park

Belvidere Park is residential care home providing personal care to three people at the time of our inspection.

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.

The service was a period domestic style property. It was registered for the support of up to four people. The building design fitting into the residential area and the other domestic homes. There were deliberately no identifying signs, intercom, cameras, industrial bins or anything else outside to indicate it was a care home. Staff were also discouraged from wearing anything that suggested they were care staff when coming and going with people.

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

At our last inspection we rated the service Good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of Good for the safe, effective, caring and well-led domains. There has been a change of rating to Outstanding for the responsive domain.

The culture and ethos of the service valued the uniqueness of every individual and promoted the provision of care and support as individual as the person receiving it. People using the service benefitted from tailor made care which was unique to them, improved their lives and had a positive impact on their well-being. The service responded and adapted to meet people's change in care and support needs in a timely way.

The registered manager was passionate about empowering people to have a say in the care and support they wanted and to live a life of their choosing. This vision was widely shared by staff.

The service took the time to get to know about what was important to people. This information was used to determine people’s aspirations for the future and to empower people to live a more independent life. Staff supported people to maintain relationships with people who were important to them.

Belvidere Park had a relaxed and informal environment. People told us they thought of Belvidere Park as their own home. There was a 'family feel' to the service. There were no set routines at the home and people’s preferences and choices dictated how the day went.

People received care and support from staff who were caring, compassionate and familiar to them. Staff provided care and support with consideration to people's needs and preferences. It was evident staff had formed genuine relationships with the people they supported.

People were supported in such a way that allowed them 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 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.

Feedback about the management of the service from people, their relatives and staff was positive.

Staff were well supported in their role with appropriate training and supervision. Staff had also received additional training to meet the specific needs of the people they were caring for.

Checks and audits were in place to determine the quality and safety of the care and support being provided. Risk to people was appropriately assessed and measures were put in place to support people safely, whilst still respecting their freedom.

The registered manager and registered provider had met their legal requirements with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). They promoted person centred care and transparency within 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

At our last inspection, the service was rated "Good." (Report published June 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the rating of the last inspection.

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.

At the last inspection, the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found the service remained good.

The registered manager had systems in place to record accidents and incidents and take appropriate action when required. Recruitment checks were carried out to ensure people were suitable to work with vulnerable people at the home. We saw there were enough staff on duty to meet people’s needs.

People are supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff support them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice.

The registered manager understood the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). This meant they were working within the law to support people who may lack capacity to make their own decisions.

Risk assessments had been developed to minimise the potential risk of harm to people who lived in the home. These were reviewed on a regular basis.

Person centred plans were in place detailing how people wished to be supported, as well as action plans detailing people’s hope and aspirations and their progress in achieving them.

Staff responsible for assisting people with their medicines had received medicines training to ensure they were competent and skilled to do so.

People regularly received snacks and drinks between meals to ensure they received adequate nutrition and hydration. Meals were with people’s preferences in mind.

We found people had access to healthcare professionals and their healthcare needs were met.

People who lived at the home participated in a range of activities, both with one another or individually with a staff member. People were supported to access their local community on a daily basis, when possible.

People who used the service knew how they could make a complaint. The complaints procedure was displayed in the home.

The registered manager used a variety of methods to assess and monitor the quality of the service provided at Belvidere Park. These included regular audits of the service and ‘staff and residents’ meetings to seek the views of people about the quality of care.

The service met all relevant fundamental standards.

During this visit we used interviews and observations to review the service. Some people who used the service were able to tell us about living at the home and for others we observed non-verbal communication. People told us "I love it here". Staff told us "It is a lovely place to work".

People's health needs were regularly assessed and staff who worked there were able to tell us what those needs where. There was good evidence of processes in place to support staff and people to get help if needed.

We reviewed policies and spoke to staff who were able to explain the procedures in place to safeguard people using the service.

We reviewed the premises and equipment in place and accompanying policies and procedures associated with this. We found equipment to be in a good state of repair and were satisfied that there were mechanisms in place to maintain equipment. We found the premises to be in a good state of repair

We saw that people were encouraged to be independent around the home and in the activities they took part in. We saw care and support being provided that was appropriate to the person's needs.

We saw that people who lived at the home were very relaxed and confident around staff. This shows that people feel safe in the home. The service took account of people's status in terms of decision making and worked closely with people, their families and external professionals.

We looked at the care records and found they contained all of the relevant documents to support a person safely. We looked at staff files, training and supervision records. We spoke with the registered manager and two support staff employed at the home.

During our visit we saw that the service had systems in place to recruit staff and ensure they were able to work safely with vulnerable adults. Staff we spoke with told us an improved induction programme had been introduced. We found that staff had good access to training to help them carry out their work.

The feedback received from the members of staff was all positive.