Cardigan House

Cardigan House is a service providing personal care and support to people living in their own home, using a supported living or domiciliary care model. The service can support older people, people living with dementia, people with a physical disability, autistic people and people with a learning disability.

At the time of our inspection 7 people were using the service and they all lived in one building also called Cardigan House. Cardigan House was arranged as 7 bedsits within a shared house, with each person having their own bathroom and shared kitchen, dining and sitting areas.

At the time of our inspection everyone who used the service received personal care; however, this may not always be the case. 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

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.

Right Support:

Some aspects of the design and delivery of the service did not always promote inclusion, equality and the principles of ordinary living that most people expect within their community. The way in which the provider used the building that people lived in; identified it as a place in which people were provided with care and support. People’s communal living areas were not homely, and some of the ways in which the service was designed and provided were institutional.

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 told us one of the aims of the service was to support people to become more independent. One staff member told us, “Supported living means we take more of a step back… and as much as possible people make their own decisions.” One person’s family member told us their relative was being supported to develop their skills in recognising risks and how to help keep themselves safe; with the aim of increasing their independence in the future. They said they found it “amazing what [Name] can learn.”

Right Care:

There was a positive, relaxed and friendly atmosphere at the service. People were treated well and respected and staff had a caring approach towards people. It was clear that people had very positive relationships with staff. People told us they were happy with their support.

Family members told us they thought people were well treated. One person’s family member told us, “The staff are lovely.” Another said, “[Name] is treated with respect and they are very helpful to her.” One person’s personal assistant told is, “[Name] speaks about staff very positively. She really likes each one of them.”

Right Culture:

People using the service were comfortable and were at ease with the staff supporting them. It was clear that they had positive relationships with staff members. People’s family members told us they thought the service was safe. One person’s family member told us, “[Name] tells us she is happy there, we would know if she wasn’t as we keep in touch all the time.”

Some people had personal assistants not provided by the service. They spoke positively about people’s outcomes and the service provided, one told us, “I’m proud of [Name] and how they are more independent, staff are lovely with her.”

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 5 October 2021 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection as the service had not been inspected since registration.

Recommendations

We made recommendation regarding application of the principles of Right Support, Right Care and Right Culture.

Follow up

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