Forest Haven

Updated 9 June 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

This inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and Service Type

Forest Haven is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Forest Haven 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 service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

Inspection activity started on 19 May 2023 and ended on 1 June 2023. We visited the service on the 19 May 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection

We spoke with the manager. We reviewed a range of records. This included 4 peoples care plans, risk assessments, 3 recruitment records, 2 quality audits, 3 daily records, and staff training records. We spoke with 1 person, 2 relatives and 3 care staff.

We reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, staffing rotas, accident and incident records and safeguarding records.

Updated 9 June 2023

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.

About the service

Forest Haven is a 'care home' for people who have a learning disability. The service accommodates a maximum of 5 people. At the time of our inspection, there were 4 people living in the home. People using the service had been living at the home for many years. Most of the staff team had also been working at the home for some time and everyone knew each other well.

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

Right Support:

There were suitable amount of trained staff working at the service to meet people's individual needs. The provider carried out employment checks to ensure that staff were recruited safely and had the right skill mix to support people who lived at the home.

The service took measures to help prevent the spread of infections. Medicines were managed in a person centred and safe way and staff ensured that people received regular medicines reviews by their health professionals. People who used the service 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.

Right Care:

People spoke positively about the service and told us that they were treated with kindness and their privacy was respected by staff. Relatives were very complimentary about the service. They told us that they felt the service supported their love one’s to express their views and they were involved in making decisions about their support with help from their families. People's support plans and risk assessments were well detailed and written in a person-centred.

Right Culture:

The service carried out a range of audits to ensure a good quality service was provided. Staff understood people's needs well. This enabled people to receive a good service, which empowered people and the care was tailored to their individual support needs.

The staff turnover at the service was very low, which supported people to receive consistent care from staff who knew them well.

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

Rating at last inspection

We last inspected this service in May 2018 where it was rated 'good' overall.

Why we inspected

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

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.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Forest Haven 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.