1-2 Prior's Court Cottages

Updated 16 August 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.

As part of this inspection, we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. We did this to understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

This inspection was conducted by 1 inspector and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

1-2 Priors Court Cottages 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. 1-2 Priors Court Cottages 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 a registered manager in post. The registered manager was responsible for 3 other services within the provider’s care group. 1-2 Priors Court Cottages also had a learning and wellbeing manager responsible for the management of the service, supported by a team manager. The team manager was the practice lead responsible for the day-to-day organisation of staff, referred to as autism practitioners.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. We gave short notice of the inspection, so staff could prepare young people using the service for our visit, to minimise the risk of our visit causing anxiety.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We 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 checked information held by the fire and rescue service, Companies House, the Food Standards Agency, and the Information Commissioner’s Office. We checked for any online reviews and relevant social media, and we looked at the content of the provider’s website. We used all this information to plan our inspection. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

During the inspection

We spoke with 3 people who use the service and 9 relatives of 6 people. We spoke with 15 staff, including the registered manager, learning and wellbeing manager, a team leader, 2 vocational learning practitioners, 8 autism practitioners and 2 human resources managers. We observed support in communal areas, for example, during meal preparation in the kitchen and dining room and group activities in the learning centre. We also observed staff support and people’s response during a real fire alarm and 1 person going for a bike ride. We reviewed a range of documents including 4 people’s care records, the provider’s policies, procedures, accidents and incidents, and quality assurance audits

Updated 16 August 2023

About the service

1-2 Prior’s Court Cottages is a residential care home, also known as Dove Cottage. It provides accommodation and personal care for up to six autistic people, living with associated complex needs. The service provides a continuing education service to young adults aged from 18 to 25. At the time of the inspection there were six people living at the service. The service provides on-site educational and vocational services via a learning centre and other facilities based on individual assessments and needs.

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

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.

Staff understood and effectively delivered care and support in accordance with the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensured people who used the service lived as full a life as possible and achieved successful outcomes.

Right Support

People were kept safe from avoidable harm because staff knew them well and understood how to protect them from abuse. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and knew how to apply it.

Staff focused on people’s strengths and promoted what they could do, so people experienced a fulfilling and meaningful everyday life.

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 supported people to make decisions following best practice in decision-making and communicated with people in ways that met their needs.

Staff collaborated with people to plan for when they experienced periods of distress so that their freedoms were restricted only if there was no alternative. Staff made every attempt to avoid restraining people and did so only when de-escalation techniques had failed and when necessary to keep the person or others safe.

Staff supported people with their medicines in a way that promoted their independence and achieved the best possible health outcomes. Staff supported people to play an active role in maintaining their own health and wellbeing.

Right Care

Staff delivered person-centred, kind care, which protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity.

People’s support plans reflected their range of needs and promoted their wellbeing and enjoyment of life. Staff provided care to meet people’s needs and aspirations, focused on their quality of life, and followed best practice.

Staff and people worked together to assess risks people might face. Staff encouraged and enabled people to take positive risks and engage in activities to enrich the quality of their lives.

Right Culture

The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of the registered manager and staff ensured people led confident, inclusive and empowered lives.

People were supported by staff who understood best practice in relation to the wide range of strengths, impairments or sensitivities of autistic people. This meant people received compassionate and empowering care that was tailored to their individual needs.

Staff turnover was low, which supported people to receive consistent care from staff who knew them well and placed their wishes, needs and rights at the heart of everything they did.

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 good (report published 21June 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.