Ashworth Care Management Company LTD

Updated 2 May 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

• One inspector carried out this inspection.

Service and service type:

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

• Retreat House is registered to accommodate up to three people with a learning disability in an adapted house in a residential area of Southampton.

• At the time of our inspection the service did not have a manager registered with us. A registered manager is legally responsible with the provider for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

• The provider had recruited a new registered manager who had started the process of applying to register for this location. There was an acting manager in post who had been responsible for the day to day running of the service. Where we say "the manager" in this report we refer to the acting manager.

Notice of inspection:

• We gave the service two days’ notice of our visit. This gave staff time to prepare people using the service to expect our visit which we did not want to disturb people or disrupt their routine.

What we did:

Before the inspection we looked at information we held about the service:

• We require providers to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We call this the Provider Information Return. This information helps support our inspections.

• The law requires providers to notify us of certain events that happen during the running of a service. We reviewed notifications received since the last inspection.

• We reviewed the previous inspection report.

During the inspection:

• We spoke with two people who used the service and one family member.

• We spoke with the acting manager, the prospective registered manager and a staff member.

• We looked at the care records of two people including medication records.

• We looked at other records to do with the running of the service.

Updated 2 May 2019

About the service:

• Retreat House is a care home for people with a learning disability who may also be living with a mental health need.

• At the time of our inspection there were three people living at Retreat House.

• The size of the home was within the good practice guidelines in Registering the Right Support. The provider had reduced the number of identifying signs and other indications it was a care home. Staff did not wear uniforms which might suggest they were care staff when coming and going with people.

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

People’s experience of using this service:

• People received a service that was safe, effective, caring and responsive.

• We found improvements were needed in how the home was managed.

• Improvements identified at our previous inspection had been made and sustained.

• People’s care and support was based on thorough, detailed and person-centred assessments and care plans.

• There were caring relationships between staff and people they supported.

• Staff involved people in decisions about their care and support.

• People’s care and support met their needs and resulted in good outcomes for them.

• There was a friendly, welcoming atmosphere in a comfortable and well-maintained environment.

• The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support. People’s support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.

Rating at last inspection:

• At the last inspection (published 4 October 2016) we rated the service good overall with requires improvement in the key area safe.

Why we inspected:

• This was a planned inspection to check the service remained good.

Follow up:

• We will follow up the areas for improvement identified in this report at our next inspection. We will re-inspect this service within our published timeframe for services rated good. We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive.