About the service Fenham Lodge is a residential care home providing personal care for up to seven people with a learning disability. There were seven people living at the service at the time of inspection. The service is a large single-story building with seven single bedrooms, a communal lounge, kitchen, laundry and bathroom facilities. There is a garden to the front and rear. The two-bedroom extension is self-contained with a kitchen and bathroom for those who would benefit from more independent living.
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
Without exception, everyone spoken with told us staff were kind, caring and compassionate. The provider was passionate about providing care that met the needs of all people. The provider promoted a caring culture that weaved throughout the whole service with people being at the heart and with an ethos of ‘putting people first’.
Care plans demonstrated person-centred care and people were very much involved in their care planning and choice in how they spent their time. People and relatives described the service as ‘home from home’. Relatives told us they felt their family members were safe and praised the care and support they were receiving. They told us the service was amazing, care was outstanding and were highly complimentary about the management and staff.
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 applied the principles and value 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 empowered to live the best life they could. Achieving own aims and goals was very much at the centre of the service. Some people held jobs which provided them with independence and a sense of purpose and achievement. Another volunteered at the local horse-riding stables and assisted people with a disability to enjoy horse-riding. People attended college to pursue various courses. Activities to enable self-development and socialisation to provide inclusiveness, were a fundamental part of the service and they worked closely with the local community, enabling people to become involved in social events. People had opportunities to attend holidays, both with their families and the service.
Sport and music were appreciated by all people and the professionals who work closely with the home told us how engaged the staff were in assisting people to achieve the most from all activities. Staff recognised individual’s communication requirements and we observed staff interacting with people in a meaningful way.
People appeared happy and confident. They were excited to show us their rooms which were personalised to meet their individual personality. The evening mealtime was a social event which people and staff shared. We observed laughter and conversation and there was a genuine interest as everyone shared events of their day.
Safe staff recruitment processes were followed, and staff received training and supervision. People enjoyed the continuity of regular staff. Medicines were administered as prescribed and staff followed infection control procedures. There was regular oversight of the service to ensure quality audits were undertaken, analysed and action taken where required.
The provider and registered manager worked in harmony together and staff were respectful of the management team, acknowledging they were approachable and that they had confidence in them.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection: Good (published 9 August 2017)
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.