Background to this inspection
Updated
8 June 2019
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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team: One adult social care inspector carried out the inspection.
Service and service type: 18 Kings Park Road is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. This service did not provide nursing care.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection: The first day of inspection was unannounced and the second visit was in the afternoon and evening to spend time with people who lived at the service.
What we did when preparing for and carrying out this inspection:
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, and we sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We assessed the information we require providers to send us, called a provider information return (PIR), to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection, we spoke with three of the four people who used the service and spent time with them. We also spoke with a person, who was visiting, who used to live at the service before moving on to a supported living setting.
We spoke with eight members of staff including the registered manager and the head of the Cambian Wing College, who was responsible for managing all of the local services.
We reviewed a range of records. This included one person’s care records, medication records, and records relating to the management of the home. Following the inspection, the registered manager sent us information relating to staff training, incident analysis, support planning information, staff and peoples debrief information and the service’s improvement plans. We also received feedback from one health care professional and three relatives.
Updated
8 June 2019
About the service: 18 Kings Park Road is a care home registered to provide accommodation and personal care for up to nine people diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorders. There were four people living at the home during the inspection.
People’s experience of using this service:
The care service had not originally been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This was because the service was registered for nine people and the current guidance implemented in 2017 reflects that smaller numbers of people living together have much better experiences and achieve better outcomes. It would be highly unlikely that we would register this model of service now when considering applications for services for people with autism. The provider was actively exploring how it could best achieve the principles of registering the right support within its services. People told us they much preferred living at the home with just four people living there.
People we met were happy and relaxed. People told us they were happy living at the service. They consistently told us how they were listened to and treated with exceptional kindness and respect. We received overwhelmingly positive feedback on how staff were supportive and went the extra mile to get the care and support just right for people.
Risks to people's health, safety and wellbeing were assessed and management plans were put in place to ensure these were reduced as much as possible.
People were supported to make choices and staff supported people in the least restrictive way as possible. Staff were very aware of the legislation to protect people’s rights in making decisions.
People were supported by kind and caring staff who worked hard to promote their independence and sense of wellbeing. People had become much more independent and were involved in all aspects of decision making about their lives.
Staff were provided with the training, supervision and support they needed to care for and support people well.
The service was responsive to people’s changing support needs and staff adapted levels of support to the individual’s needs at the time.
There was strong leadership at the service and people and staff spoke highly of the registered manager. There was a positive culture at the service where staff felt listened to and supported. There was a strong drive to continuously improve the service for people. Staff told us they were proud of the achievements of people living at the service.
The registered manager and provider had robust quality assurance systems in place to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service provided. There was strong open culture that focused on learning lessons and finding different ways of making improvements for people.
Rating at last inspection: At the last inspection the service was rated good (report published September 2016). The service has improved in 'how well led the service is?' and the service remains 'good' overall.
Why we inspected: This inspection was a scheduled inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk