19 October 2023
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Oaklands is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care to 5 people with learning disabilities, autism, and other support needs, including mental health illness. The service is registered for 6 people but can only accommodate up to 5.due facilities available.
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
Right Support:
Staff supported people's strengths and promoted what they could do for themselves. They understood the importance of people being as independent as possible, and the fulfilment this gave people. People were supported to be busy and to have active lives that included life activities and social events.
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's health needs were monitored, and people were supported to ensure they received health care when needed. People received their medicines in line with prescription guidelines.
Right Care:
People received kind and compassionate care. A relative said, “He flourishes at Oaklands I know he is safe I think it is just wonderful.” Another said, “I think the care staff are great they are very kind and caring.” Staff protected and respected people's privacy and dignity. People’s rooms were respected as people’s own space and the house was seen as their home.
There were enough staff to meet people's needs and wishes. Emphasis had been placed on ensuring that staff had the skills, knowledge, and experience to meet people's needs. Training had included specific courses on learning disability and autism. Staff knew people well and responded to all their individual needs. They understood what triggered people's anxiety and how to support them during times of distress.
Each person had a key worker who they had formed positive and supportive relationships with. Choices were provided to people in relation to their day-to-day support and how they wanted to spend their time. Recreational and social events were an important part of people's lives and given a high priority.
Right Culture:
The registered manager had established a positive and inclusive environment where people and staff felt valued and listened to. They and the staff team demonstrated a commitment to the values of the service that put people at the centre of all care and support provided.
People's relatives felt that there was good communication, and they were kept informed and could contact the service if they had anything they wanted to discuss.
Staff spoke positively about the management team, and the support they received. One staff member said, "I am very well supported by the management they are very good. They have also supported my development, including further vocational training.”
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 15 December 2016).
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. 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.
For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service remains good.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.