Festing Grove

Updated 30 December 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of 3 inspectors.

Service and service type

Festing Grove is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Festing Grove is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. However, there was a home manager post, who we will refer to as, 'the manager' throughout this report.

Notice of inspection

The inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We sought feedback from the local authority and used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 2 people and 1 relative about their experience of the care provided. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We received feedback from 11 members of staff including the manager and nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We received written feedback from 4 health and social care professionals.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 2 people's care and support records and 3 people's medicine administration records. We looked at 2 staff files in relation to recruitment and training. We also reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, staffing rotas, accident and incident records, safeguarding records, and quality assurance reports.

Updated 30 December 2023

About the service

Festing Grove is a residential care home providing personal and accommodation to up to 4 people. The service provides support to people with a learning disability and/or autism. At the time of our inspection there were 4 people using the service.

People’s experience of the service and what we found

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

Right Support

Risks to people's health, safety and well-being had not always been assessed or managed and this had placed people at risk of harm. Support plans and risk assessments did not always include information to guide staff on how to provide care and support. This had placed people at risk of not having their needs met.

Right Care

The home had a medicines policy and safeguarding policy in place, but these had not always been followed.

People were not always supported to live full, active lives and encouraged to increase their independence. Staff did not have the right training or detail in support plans to meet people's needs, goals and wishes. People were not supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not support this practice. Staff were observed to know people well and be able to communicate with them.

Right Culture

The provider's monitoring processes were not always effective in helping to ensure people consistently received good quality care and support. This had led to shortfalls found during the inspection. Staff did not always feel supported, and supervisions did not take place as planned. A staff member told us, “We are a good team, we try to sort things out ourselves…there isn’t a person in charge today, the new manager tries but can’t be here all the time, so we do our best.”

The home manager stated, “I welcome this inspection and will use this as a starting point for where we need to improve.”

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 24 March 2022). At this inspection we found the provider remained in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about staffing levels and the management of safeguarding incidents. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key question not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Festing Grove on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

During the inspection we found there was a concern with consent so we widened the scope of the inspection to include the key question effective.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified continued breaches in relation to safeguarding, safe care and treatment and good governance at this inspection. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have made a recommendation about recruitment processes, adherence to the Mental Capacity Act and infection prevention at Festing Grove.

Follow Up

We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will work with the local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.