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.About the service
Parkbrook Lodge is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to ten people with a learning disability and autistic people. At the time of the inspection, nine people were living at the home, although one person was in hospital.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of right support, right care, right culture.
Right Support
People had a choice and control about living safely in their living environment. One person said, “I love it here. I love my bedroom.” We saw how people had a choice of locking their bedrooms if they chose, for privacy and security reasons.
The service supported people to have the maximum possible choice, control and independence and they had control over their own lives. Relatives told us people were encouraged to take positive risks.
Staff supported people to make decisions following best practice in decision-making. Risks to decision making were explained in ways people could understand. One staff member told us, “We used a Widgit software system to communicate risks to people." A Widgit system uses symbol-based language or pictures instead of written words.
Right Care
People received care that supported their needs and aspirations, was focused on their quality of life, and followed best practice. The provider ensured people’s goals were risk assessed and people were supported safely. One person told us they enjoyed having a job. They said, “I have a job; it’s important. I’m important.” We saw a job description and risk assessment for this person. It detailed how they would be safely supported.
Relatives told us they felt people were safe and received the right amount of care and support. The manager worked with disability groups to ensure the service received the most up to date information.
Right Culture
Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. Staff told us how they would recognise pain, distress and discomfort in people who could not verbally communicate.
People were supported by staff who understood best practice in relation to the wide range of strengths, impairments or sensitivities people with a learning disability and/or autistic people may have.
Staff evaluated the quality of support provided to people, involving the person, their families and other professionals as appropriate. We saw how people were included in regular meetings. Relatives told us they were regularly consulted and involved in reviews of support and care needs.
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 04 April 2018).
Why we inspected
We undertook this inspection to assess that the service is applying the principles of 'Right support Right care Right culture'. The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about the care and support people received. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.
For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.
The overall rating for the service has not changed following this focused inspection and remains good.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Parkbrook Lodge on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.