Magdalene Court

Updated 25 December 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector. Another inspector was involved in gathering recruitment information.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in a 'supported living' setting, so that they can live as independently as possible. People's care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people's personal care and support.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that 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

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since they registered. We sought feedback from Health watch, the local authority and professionals who work with the service. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

Due to the nature of people's needs, we were not able to ask people direct questions. 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 spoke with three members of staff including the registered manager, senior support worker and a support worker.

We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records and medication records. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We contacted professionals who regularly visit the service, three professionals provided us with positive feedback about the care people received. We spoke with two relatives about their experience of the care provided.

Updated 25 December 2021

About the service

Magdalene Court is a supported living service registered to provide personal care and support for people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. This service assists people to live in self-contained flats with staff on site to provide support when required and scheduled. Staff have an office and facilities on site and provide 24 hour cover. At the time of the inspection the service was providing personal care to four older people with a learning disability.

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

There were enough staff to support people safely and medicines were safely managed. There were robust systems to safeguard people from abuse. Safe recruitment processes were being followed to make sure staff were suitable for their roles and responsibilities. Cleaning and infection control procedures had been updated in line with COVID-19 guidance to help protect people, visitors and staff from the risk of infection. Government guidance about COVID-19 testing for people, staff and visitors was being followed.

Risks to people's health, safety and welfare were identified and managed safely. Staff ensured people's needs were consistently met and assessed to enable improvements and progress in their lives. Staff received a comprehensive induction and ongoing training to enable them to support people safely. There were effective systems for communication both at the service, and with other agencies to ensure people received the care they needed.

People were supported to eat and drink sufficient amounts to meet their needs. When required, staff supported people to access a range of healthcare professionals. The service worked with specialist learning disability teams to provide effective joined up care. Quality assurance processes were robust and provided oversight of the service.

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.

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.

The service was able to demonstrate how they were the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right support:

• Model of care and setting maximises people's choice, control and Independence. People were supported to live as independently as possible at a service which encouraged and inspired people to live full lives. Staff supported people to make choices and to remain connected with their family, friends and the local community.

Right care:

• Care is person-centred and promotes people's dignity, privacy and human rights. People's flats were respected by staff as their homes. People were supported to lead full and active lives and to take part in activities that were meaningful to them. Staff were caring and spoke very fondly of the people they supported. They knew people really well and spoke respectfully about them. People and their relatives were listened to and their choices were respected. Where people did not use words to communicate, care records included information about how they expressed their needs, choices and preferences.

Right culture:

• Ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives. Staff described a positive culture where learning was encouraged. We received positive feedback in relation to the care people received and how the service was run.

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

Why we inspected

This service was registered with us on 25 November 2019 and this is the first inspection. Previously this was one of many supported living sites the provider had registered under one supported living location. The provider has now registered each site as a separate location.

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.