Archived: Churchill House

This is a small supported living service for people with a learning disability and autistic spectrum conditions living in their own homes in the community. The service was given 48 hours’ notice of inspection to ensure the registered manager would be available to meet us and to make arrangements for us to visit people.

The service is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for the provision of personal care in people’s own homes. This includes assistance or prompting with washing, toileting, dressing, eating and drinking. We call this type of service a ‘supported living’ service. At the time of the inspection the service was providing personal care and support to just one person, who was living in their own single occupancy house in Burnham on Sea. The person had complex learning disability and autistic spectrum needs and required 24 hour staff support. A small number of other people who had previously used this service had recently moved to a nearby care home run by the same provider. The service provided the person with other forms of social care support that are not included within CQC’s registration requirements for a supported living service. For example, in addition to personal care, the service also assisted the person with their housekeeping, shopping, attending appointments and with other independent living skills.

The service was responsible solely for the provision of the person’s support services and had no control over the provision of their premises. This meant the person and their family could choose an alternative service provider if they wished.

The service had a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. The registered manager was based at the provider’s Apple Tree House learning disability care home in Burnham on Sea.

The person who used the service and one of their close relatives told us they were very happy with the personal care and other support they received from the service. Staff were always available to prompt and support the person but they encouraged them to be as independent as possible with their daily living activities. The person told us “I shower on my own and get dressed on my own. I cook my own meals and I clean and do my own laundry”. This approach had boosted the person’s confidence and had enabled them to become much more self-reliant. The relative said that since the person had moved to the supported living service “They’re thriving with improved skills and independence”.

The person had their own core team of support staff assigned to them and had a say in the membership of the core team. Having a small consistent team ensured the person was familiar and comfortable with the staff who supported them; and that the staff understood the person’s needs and preferences well.

The person was supported to participate regularly in the local community through a variety of social and recreational activities. This was facilitated through links the service had with local voluntary shops and businesses, leisure facilities, specialist clubs and centres for people with learning disabilities.

The person was supported to maintain good health and well-being and to access external health care professionals when needed. Systems were in place to ensure they received their medicines safely.

The person and their relative told us the registered manager and the support staff were all very approachable and supportive. They said they could raise issues or concerns informally with any member of staff and they always received helpful responses.

Staff said everyone in the organisation, from the top down, focused on the well-being of the people they supported. Staff told us they could always rely on the registered manager for help and advice whenever needed. We also found the service had an effective quality monitoring system to ensure standards of service were maintained and improved.

We observed that people were able to express their individual care needs and saw that people were able to make choices about how they lived their lives.

We reviewed five care plans and noted that comprehensive assessments of people's care needs had been undertaken. We saw risk assessments around people's daily living activities were clearly documented and care was delivered in line with each person's care plan.

We noted the service had robust safeguarding for vulnerable adults and whistleblowing arrangements in place. We saw that staff had attended safeguarding training and were able to demonstrate a good understanding of abuse.

Staff told us they were well supported with regular supervision, staff appraisal and team meetings. One staff member said "I have been able to attend the training I needed which has enabled me to fulfil my role to the best of my abilities".

We noted there were quality monitoring systems in place that enabled people receiving the service and their families to express their views and be involved in developing the service. One person said "It is very nice to work with staff who know about autism so I don't have to keep explaining things".

Comprehensive assessments of people's care needs had been completed to meet care needs effectively. People had opportunities to undertake community based activities and that risk assessments had been completed in relation to those activities.

The provider had effective policies and procedures in place in relation to the safeguarding of vulnerable adults and whistle blowing. We saw that staff had completed safeguarding training and were able to demonstrate an understanding of abuse.

Staff were well supported with regular one to one supervision and team meetings. We saw that there were good arrangements for the training of staff. Staff told us how managers were approachable and always available to provide support and advice.

We found that the provider had systems in place to monitor and review the quality of the service they provided.