304 Southwell Road

Updated 27 March 2020

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

304 Southwell Road is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission, however they had recently left the service. A new manager had started on the day of our visit and it was their intention to register with CQC. This means the registered manager 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 reviewed information we held about the service such as notifications. These are events which happened in the service that the provider is required to tell us about. We sought feedback from the local authority who monitor the care and support people received and Healthwatch Nottinghamshire. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all this information to plan our inspection. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

During the inspection

We spoke with five people living at the service. We spoke with the manager, the deputy manager, the quality monitoring officer and seven support workers. We observed support being provided in the communal areas of the service. We reviewed a range of records about people's care and how the service was managed. This included two people's care records and associated documents including risk assessments and a sample of medicine records. We looked at staff training records and the recruitment checks carried out for one staff member employed since our last visit. We also looked at a sample of the provider’s quality assurance audits the management team had completed.

After the inspection

The manager provided us with further evidence to demonstrate compliance with the regulations.

Updated 27 March 2020

About the service

304 Southwell Road is a residential care home which can provide personal care for up to eight people. The service specialises in supporting people who have a learning disability, are on the autistic spectrum, or have mental health support needs.

The care home comprises of two adjacent bungalows with separate facilities. Each bungalow can accommodate four people. There were seven people living there 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 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.

There were no identifying signs, 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

People were kept safe from avoidable harm. Staff were aware of their responsibilities for keeping people safe and knew what to do should they feel someone was at risk of harm. Risks relating to people’s care and support had been assessed, managed and monitored. Suitable numbers of appropriately recruited staff were available to meet people’s care and support needs and people were supported with their medicines safely. Staff followed the provider’s infection control policy and lessons were learned when things went wrong.

A comprehensive assessment process was followed when new people moved into the service and people were supported to eat and drink well. Staff knew people well and had the skills and knowledge to meet their needs. People were provided with a comfortable and homely place to live. Staff worked well together, they supported people to live healthier lives and they obtained people’s consent. 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.

Staff were kind and caring and showed people the respect they deserved. People were treated with dignity and were fully involved in making decisions around their care and support.

Plans of care had been developed when people had first moved into the service, and these identified the care and support people needed. Concerns were taken seriously and handled in line with the provider’s complaints procedure. People’s wishes at the end of their life had been explored.

The management team regularly monitored the service. Auditing systems were in place and these were carried out on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. The staff team felt supported and their views of the service were sought. People and their relatives were involved in how the service was run. This was through meetings, the use of surveys and day to day conversations with the management and staff team. The staff team worked in partnership with others to make sure people received safe care and support.

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 28 July 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.