Dimensions 27 Sampson Avenue

Updated 15 September 2023

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

Dimensions 27 Sampson Avenue is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Dimensions 27 Sampson Avenue is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 1 person living at the service. We observed interactions between people and staff, including during mealtimes. We explored the premises while looking at aspects of health and safety and infection control.

We spoke with 5 staff members, including 3 care workers, the deputy manager and the registered manager. We also spoke with 2 visiting healthcare staff.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 3 people's care records and several medicines records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to staff recruitment and supervision. A variety of records relating to staffing and the management of the service, including quality assurance, staff training, accidents and incidents, policies and procedures, health and safety, and meeting minutes were also reviewed.

Following our visit, we spoke with the relatives and friends of 2 people.

Updated 15 September 2023

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

Dimensions 27 Sampson Avenue is a residential care home providing personal care to 6 people at the time of the inspection. People’s needs were varied and included people with a learning disability, autistic people, and people with physical disabilities. The service can support a maximum number of 6 people.

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

Right Support:

We found concerns around infection control. Some parts of the service were poorly maintained and unhygienic.

Staff supported people to take their medicines as prescribed. However, we found shortfalls around some aspects of the management of medicines.

Staff supported people to make decisions following best practice in decision-making.

Staff enabled people to access specialist health and social care support in the community.

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.

Right Care:

Staff assessed and reduced risks to people’s health, care and safety.

The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe.

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.

People’s care and support plans reflected their range of needs and this promoted their wellbeing, and equality and diversity.

Right Culture:

The service’s quality improvement processes needed to improve as they failed to identify the issues we found at this inspection. The service had also failed to act on certain areas of concern, which were identified at the previous inspection.

People received good quality care and support because staff were trained and people had access to specialist support when needed. Staff knew and understood people well and were responsive to their needs.

The service enabled people and those important to them to work with staff to develop 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

The last rating for this service was good (published 19 September 2018).

Why we inspected

This focused inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. 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 changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Dimensions 27 Sampson Avenue on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

Enforcement and recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to premises and equipment, and good governance at this inspection.

We have made a recommendation about some aspects of the management of medicines.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.