Swallowdale

Swallowdale is a care home providing personal care to six people at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to eight people with learning disabilities and or autistic spectrum disorder.

The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.

The service was a large home, bigger than most domestic style properties. It was registered for the support of up to eight people. Six people were using the service. This is larger than current best practice guidance. However, the size of the service having a negative impact on people was mitigated by the building design fitting into the residential area and the other large domestic homes of a similar size.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes including control, choice and independence.

The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent. Staff supported people to establish and maintain significant relationships with family and friends.

People were positive about their care and support. They told us they liked the staff and said they were kind and caring. 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 were well trained and received good management support and supervision, which enabled them to carry out their roles effectively. People’s needs were holistically assessed and staff worked consistently to ensure people received high quality, person-centred care.

Effective management systems were in place to promote people safety and wellbeing. People, relatives and staff were positive about the way the service was led and were asked what worked well and what changes they would like to see. People knew who to speak with if they had any worries or concerns and were confident any issues they raised would be acted upon. The provider and the registered manager checked the quality of care provided.

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 14 October 2016).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

Swallowdale is located in the market town of Alford in Lincolnshire. It is registered to provide care and support for up to eight people who experience needs related to learning disabilities. The home is part of the larger organisation of Linkage Community Trust and is supported by a team of regional and head office staff. Eight people were living in the home on the day of our inspection.

There was an established registered manager in post at the time of the inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The registered manager and staff understood what was important to each person and they worked closely with people and their families to ensure each person had a meaningful and enjoyable life. People were supported in a kind and caring way. Staff recognised people’s right to privacy, respected confidential information and promoted people’s dignity.

The registered manager and staff knew how to respond to any risks they had identified and whenever it was needed took action to make sure people were kept safe from harm. Background checks had been completed before any new staff were appointed and there were enough staff on duty to provide the care described in each person’s care record. Clear arrangements were in place for ordering, storing, administering and disposing of medicines and people had access to a range of visiting health and social care professionals when they required both routine and more specialist help.

Staff had ensured that people’s rights were respected by helping them to make decisions for themselves wherever possible. This support was given in line with legal guidance. CQC is required by law to monitor the operation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and to report on what we find. DoLS are in place to protect people where they do not have capacity to make decisions and where it is considered necessary to restrict their freedom in some way, usually to protect themselves. At the time of the inspection three people were subject to a DoLS authorisation and we saw that the conditions of the authorisations were being met.

People were provided with a good choice of nutritious meals. When necessary, people were given any extra help they needed to make sure that they had enough to eat and drink to keep them healthy.

The registered manager ran the home in an open and inclusive way and people and their relatives were invited to give feedback about the quality of the care provided. The registered provider encouraged people, their relatives and staff to speak out if they had any concerns. Formal systems were in place for handling and resolving complaints.

The provider and registered manager had systems in place to regularly assess and monitor care practice and to ensure people received a good quality of care. The systems in place meant that any shortfalls in quality could be quickly identified and improvements made as needed

We carried out a visit on 19th December 2014. We looked at the personal care or treatment records of people who used the service and observed how people were being cared for.

As a part of our inspection we talked with people who used the service and with staff. We were shown how staff made efforts to improve the quality of life for people who lived at the home. An example was the use of a Skype video telephone link which was used to enable people at the home to see as well as speak to family members who lived in other parts of the country.

People spoke positively about the care and support they received. They told us they liked living in the home, and confirmed they were supported to make choices and decisions about the care they received. Some people who lived at the home told us: 'I like everything about the home- I like living here' and 'I like this house. I make dinner. Go home to visit parents regularly.'

One person told us, "I like going swimming." Another told us, "I love it here."

People told us their care was personalised to their needs and staff used their prefered name when speaking to them. They were able to tell us the name of their key workers. One person said, "My key worker does a lot with me." Another person told us how they liked art and craft and showed us some work they were currently doing. They said, "I like craft, gardening and walking."