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. About the service
Shepherds Lodge Residential Home provides accommodation and personal care to up to 6 people who have a learning disability and/or autism or mental health needs. There were 4 people living in the home when we inspected. Accommodation is provided in single bedrooms over two floors. There are four bedrooms on the first floor of the home and two bedrooms on the ground floor of the property. The home has a range of communal areas that people share.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Right Support:
People had a fulfilling and meaningful everyday life because staff focused on their strengths and promoted what they could do. The registered manager and staff understood the importance of supporting people to gain skills and independence.
Staff supported people to follow their interests in the home and in the community. People were supported to be active members of their community. Staff adapted how they supported people to follow activities as their needs and interests changed.
People’s access to activities had been restricted during the COVID-19 pandemic. As restrictions were eased following the pandemic, the registered manager had advocated for people to be able to return to activities they enjoyed.
People had a choice about their living environment and were able to personalise their rooms. The service gave people care and support in a safe, clean, comfortable and homely environment that met their sensory and physical needs.
Staff enabled people to access routine and specialist health and social care support to ensure their health and wellbeing. They gave people the support they needed to take their medicines and maintain their health.
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. They communicated with people in ways that met their needs.
Right Care:
People received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They knew people well and understood and responded to their individual needs.
People were safe and protected from abuse. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it.
The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. People liked the staff who supported them.
People could communicate with staff and understand information given to them because staff supported them consistently and understood their individual communication needs. People who had individual ways of communicating could interact comfortably with staff because staff had the experience and skills to understand them.
People’s care and support plans reflected their range of needs. Staff knew people very well and knew the support they needed. People’s wellbeing was promoted because staff knew what was important to them.
Staff and people cooperated to assess risks people might face. Where appropriate, staff encouraged and enabled people to take positive risks.
Right Culture:
People led inclusive and empowered lives because of the ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of the management and staff. Staff ensured risks of a closed culture were minimised so that people received support based on transparency, respect and inclusivity.
People were supported by staff who understood best practice in relation to the wide range of strengths, impairments or sensitivities people with a learning disability and/or autistic people may have. This meant people received compassionate and empowering care that was tailored to their needs.
People, and those important to them, were involved in planning their care. Staff knew how to give people choices about their lives and respected the decisions they made.
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 12 October 2017).
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
The rating for the service had not been reviewed since the inspection in 2017. We undertook a focused inspection to check people continued to receive safe and high-quality care. We reviewed the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.
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.
The overall rating for the service has remained good based on the findings of this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Shepherds Lodge Residential Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.