Archived: Holmesdale Road

Updated 6 July 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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

Two inspectors carried out the inspection.

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.

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. The registered manager had recently been appointed to a different role within the organisation and a new manager had been appointed, who had begun the process of registering with CQC.

Notice of inspection

We gave a short notice period of the inspection because we wanted to be sure people would be at home to speak with us.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since its registration, including notifications of significant incidents. We sought feedback from professionals who had worked 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 with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We visited the service and spoke with three people about the care and support they received and two relatives. We also spoke with the registered manager, the recently-appointed manager, the regional manager, two senior support workers and a support worker.

We checked two people’s care records, including their assessments, risk assessments and support plans, and the arrangements for managing medicines. We reviewed information sent to us by the manager, including recruitment records for two staff, training and supervision records, and quality assurance audits.

After the inspection

We spoke with two relatives about the care their family members received and a social care professional who had an involvement with the service.

Updated 6 July 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

Holmesdale Road is a supported living service providing support to people in their own home. The building is managed and maintained by a not-for-profit housing provider and each person has their own tenancy agreement. All the people who use the service have a learning disability and some people are also on the autism spectrum.

The service supported four people at the time of our inspection, three of whom received support with personal care. CQC only inspects services 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

The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right support:

People felt safe at the service and when staff provided their care and support.

Staff managed risks well to keep people safe while promoting their independence.

Staff supported people to take their medicines safely and to access healthcare services when they needed them.

Staff focused on people’s strengths and supported people to identify and achieve their goals.

People were encouraged to be as independent as possible.

People were involved in planning their support and had opportunities to give feedback about their care.

Right care:

Staff understood their responsibilities in protecting people from abuse and knew how to report any concerns they had.

The provider’s recruitment procedures helped ensure only suitable staff were employed.

Staff support was available when people needed it. This included allocated one-to-one support hours, which people could choose how they used.

Staff had the training they needed to provide people’s care.

People received kind and compassionate care. Staff treated people with respect and maintained their dignity.

Staff supported people to take part in activities they enjoyed and to live fulfilling and meaningful lives.

Right culture:

Staff valued people’s individuality, protected their rights and supported them to lead confident, empowered lives.

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.

Staff felt valued for the work they did and were well-supported in their roles.

The provider’s governance arrangements were effective in keeping people safe and ensuring good quality care and support.

The manager and staff had established effective relationships with other professionals to ensure people received the care and treatment they needed.

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 26 November 2020 and this is the first inspection under the current registered provider.

The last rating for the service under the previous provider was Good, published on 13 April 2019.

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.