Helene Lodge

Updated 7 October 2022

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

The inspection was carried out by an inspector 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 a ‘supported living’ setting, so they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

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 three days’ notice of the first inspection visit and a week’s notice of the second inspection visit; the latter would have been two days but the registered manager was on leave when we had planned to visit. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 6 May 2022 and ended on 23 August 2022. We visited the service on 6 May and 16 August 2022.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We also sought feedback from the local authority. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We met five people living at Helene Lodge. We spoke with three of them, including one person who was not receiving a regulated activity, and three relatives about their experience of the support provided. We spoke with four members of staff including the registered manager, area manager, deputy manager and a support worker. We reviewed a range of records. These included two people's care records, three people's medication records, and two staff files in relation to recruitment, training and supervision. We also reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures and quality assurance records.

Updated 7 October 2022

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

Helene Lodge is a supported living service providing personal care to three people at the time of the inspection. It is based in one shared house with an outside annexe, for up to seven people, with the office on the second floor of the building. People each have their own room, and some have an ensuite bath or shower room. The kitchen, dining room, living room and some bathroom and toilet facilities in the main house are shared. The annexe includes a private kitchen, bathroom and living room as well as a bedroom.

Not everyone who uses the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.

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

Right Support:

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. People were central to and as involved as possible in decisions about their care, both day to day and in more significant decisions. They had monthly reviews with their keyworker, where they talked about what was going well for them, what they wanted to change and their hopes and aspirations for the future.

Risks were managed with the least possible restriction. The registered manager championed the principles of STOMP (stopping the over-medication of autistic people and people with a learning disability) within the service, challenging prescribers when they were concerned that psychotropic medicines were being proposed unnecessarily.

Support plans promoted people’s independence and staff worked with people accordingly. People were supported as far as possible to have an active role in maintaining their own health and wellbeing.

Right Care:

Care and support were individualised according to people’s needs and promoted their dignity, privacy and human rights. People and relatives were pleased with their or their loved one’s support, which they felt met their needs.

People felt safe and comfortable with staff. There was a growing but stable staff team who knew people well and understood and met their support needs. Staff understood their responsibilities for safeguarding people and upholding their human rights. They had the training and skills they needed to be able to support people safely and effectively. Enough staff were deployed each shift to provide the support people needed.

People had thrived with the support they receive, leading active lives and experiencing a sense of wellbeing despite ongoing health conditions. Support plans were underpinned by personalised assessments of their needs, which were holistic and up to date. They made clear how staff could recognise people were upset or disliked something. Where people had previously struggled to manage their distress, staff followed positive behaviour support plans to good effect to help them avoid becoming distressed in the first place.

Right Culture:

People using the service, relatives and staff had confidence in the leadership of the service and relatives described good communication with them. Staff told us the registered manager was supportive and fair, whilst expecting them to work to a high standard. People, relatives and staff felt confident in raising any concerns with the registered manager, trusting she would take them seriously and take any necessary action.

The registered manager fostered an open, inclusive and person-centred culture within the service, which was reflected in the warm and friendly “family” atmosphere observed by people and staff. She made it clear to staff they must work in a person-centred way and demonstrated this by example. She and the provider maintained oversight of the service through regular conversations with people, relatives and staff as well as through a programme of quality assurance audits to ensure the service was working to the provider’s policies and procedures. If any shortfalls were found, prompt action was taken to address them.

The registered and deputy managers worked closely with other staff in supporting people. People readily approached and interacted with the registered manager.

People using the service and relatives felt able to raise concerns with the registered manager and trusted they would be taken seriously. The registered manager was open and transparent with people, their relatives and professionals if anything went wrong.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 10 October 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.