Archived: Redwood Glades

Updated 12 October 2022

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

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is rented and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care service.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

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

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 13 July 2022 and ended on 3 August 2022. We visited the location’s office on 13 July 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We used information gathered as part of monitoring activity that took place on 22 December 2021 to help plan the inspection and inform our judgements. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 12 people who used the service and 11 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with six members of staff including, care staff and the registered manager. We reviewed a range of records. This included six people's care records and medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. We also looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service.

After the inspection

Following our visit we spoke by telephone with the relatives of three people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We also spoke with one health professional. We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.

Updated 12 October 2022

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

About the service

Redwood Glades is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care within an extra care housing facility. The service provides support to people with a range of different needs, including people who have a learning disability.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This means tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider

social care provided. At the time of the inspection, there were 113 people who were receiving personal care calls.

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

The service did not consistently assess and mitigate risks to people. Accidents and incidents were investigated, but it was not clear if risk assessments were updated where increased risk was indicated.

The quality assurance system in the service did not identify this and care records were not always up to date. We found that no direct harm had come to the people, but the risk of harm had been increased. We have made recommendations about risk assessments and audits.

Staff had received introductory training in mental health and additional training was provided where required. We identified further training was need for staff to support people with more complex needs and the provider committed to supplying this.

The provider recruited staff safely and used a dependency tool to ensure there were enough staff on duty to meet people’s needs.

Staff supported people with their medicines. The registered manager had addressed any concerns through safeguarding and audits and closely monitored the use of any 'when required' (known as PRN) medicines to ensure the best possible outcomes for people.

Most people in the service told us that they were very happy, and staff supported them well.

Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse because they knew people well.

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.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the Care Quality Commission website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 12 July 2019).

Why we inspected

This 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.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe, effective and well-led relevant key question sections of this full report.

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 Redwood Glades on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have identified a breach in relation to good governance at this inspection.

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.