24 July 2023
During an inspection looking at part of the service
About the service
Our House is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care to five people with learning disabilities at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 5 people.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Right Support:
People were not always supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff were not always supporting people in the least restrictive way possible. The service could not always demonstrate they were acting in people's best interests.
People were not always protected from the risk of harm as staff did not always receive appropriate training to support people in safe, consistent and effective ways.
Right Care:
People were supported by staff who knew them well and who had been safely recruited. People had access to a range of professionals to support them with their needs. However, the care planning was not always up-to-date and reporting requirements were not always being followed.
Right Culture:
The staff was trying to develop an open and empowering culture. People and their relatives knew how to make a complaint and felt confident they would be listened to. However, we found more work was needed to ensure the service was operating in accordance with the regulations and best practice guidance.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was good (published 2 March 2020).
At our last inspection we recommended the provider took steps to support staff in providing their duties more effectively. At this inspection we found the provider had made some improvements, but further improvements were needed.
Why we inspected
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.
The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about safeguarding processes. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements.
We found that safeguarding reporting and recording processes were not always being followed. The support provided was not always following best practice guidance. Monitoring and auditing systems were in place but were not always sufficient.
You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
The provider has taken some effective action to mitigate the risks, but further improvement is required.
The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.
Please see the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led sections of this full report.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Our House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Enforcement and Recommendations
We have identified breaches in relation to the consistent provision of person-centred care, adequate staffing, and governance at this inspection.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.
Since the last inspection we recognised that the provider had failed to send statutory notifications to CQC. This was a breach of regulation. Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to this is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.
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.