21 July 2022
During a routine inspection
Lowdell Close is a residential care home providing personal care for up to four people. The service provides support and care to adults with a learning disability. At the time of the inspection there were four people using the service.
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.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The service was not able to demonstrate how they were meeting some of the underpinning principles of right support, right care, right culture.
Right culture
The provider's monitoring processes were not always effective because records of people's care and the management of the service were not always accurate and complete.
Staff knew and understood people and were responsive to their needs.
People and those important to them, including advocates, were involved in their care.
The provider had a clear vision for the service based on a culture of improvement to enhance people's quality of life.
Right support
The service gave people care and support to meet their sensory and physical needs, but the environment was not always well-maintained.
People were able to personalise their rooms.
Staff communicated with people in ways that met their needs.
Staff supported people with their medicines safely.
Staff supported people to meet their health needs and worked with other agencies to do so.
Staff aimed to help people have a meaningful everyday life by supporting them to take part in activities at home, in the community and online.
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
People received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to people’s individual needs. We have made a recommendation about end of life care planning.
People could take part in activities and pursue interests that were tailored to them. Staff worked to give people opportunities to try new activities that might enrich their lives.
The service had enough staff to keep people safe. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. The service worked with other agencies to do so.
Staff received training and an induction to help them support people.
For more information, please read the detailed findings section of this report. If you are reading this as a separate summary, the full report can be found on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk
Last rating and update
This service was registered with us on 21 June 2021 and this is the first inspection. The last rating for the service under the previous provider was requires improvement, published on 12 September 2020.
Why we inspected
We undertook this inspection to assess that the service is applying the principles of Right support right care right culture. 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.
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.