Glasshouse College

Updated 20 April 2022

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.

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.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors an assistant inspector and a specialist advisor. The specialist advisor was a nurse. One inspector and assistant inspector visited on 15 March 2022, two inspectors and the specialist advisor visited on 16 March 2022 and one inspector and an assistant inspector visited on 17 March 2022. One inspector returned on 23 March 2022 to complete the inspection and provide feedback.

Service and service type

Glasshouse College is a specialist residential college. The service is registered to provide accommodation care and support for up to 35 people living in small community- based houses.

Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service is also registered to provide personal care to young people living with shared lives carers. With this type of service people's care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate the premises used for supported living; however, we looked at people's personal care and support.

The educational provision at the college is regulated by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted).

The registered manager joined the service at the end of June 2021 a week after our last inspection. The registered manager and the provider were legally responsible for how the service was run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We gave the provider 24 hours' notice of the inspection visit. This was because we needed to make sure staff would be available to support the inspection and to plan visits to the residential houses.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority. We did not ask the provider to complete an 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 this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We visited eight residential houses and spent time at the college campus. We spoke with 21 staff, including support workers, senior support workers, shared lives provider, residential managers, education health care managers (EHCM), the head of college (Registered Manager) college principle, nominated individual. We met ten people, observed their care and sought their views.

We reviewed a range of records. This included six people’s care records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment. We also looked at a variety of records relating to the management and quality assurance of the service.

After the inspection

We spoke with five relatives and we looked at further records and continued to seek clarification from the registered manager to validate evidence found. We emailed several health care professionals and commissioners and received seven responses.

Updated 20 April 2022

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

Glasshouse College is a specialist residential college and a shared lives service for young people with learning disabilities, autism and/or mental health needs. The shared lives scheme provides people with long-term placements within shared lives providers (SLP) own homes. The service can support up to 35 people and 18 people were receiving a service at the time of the inspection.

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

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

Right Support

Glasshouse currently has 11 residential houses located in different settings. People accessed local facilities and were supported by staff to pursue their interests. Some of the residential houses were located in a more rural setting and consideration was given to the individual needs of the person prior to them moving there. Staff knew people well and knew how to manage any risks and report any concerns. There were sufficient numbers of staff to meet people's needs. Medicines were managed in a safe way. One person told us they were very happy with their house. They told us, “The staff are kind, I can talk to them when I need to.” Relatives told us their family members were safe.

Right Care

People were supported by caring and kind staff. Staff knew people well and knew their likes and dislikes. People were supported and encouraged to become more independent. A relative told us, “It’s been a brilliant placement for [family member's name].” Another relative told us, “I felt I needed to be keeping an eye on things, but since [registered manager name] has been in post I can take a step back again.”

Right Culture

Many improvements had been made at the service. The registered manager promoted a positive culture and led by example. Staff told us they received the support they needed to carry out their role. A staff member told us, “The manager is so approachable and supportive and gets things done.” Another staff member told us, “There have been so many improvements made and people have really benefited from these improvements. They live in nicer residential houses and the paperwork is much clearer and easy to follow now.”

The registered manager was keen to continually improve and develop the service. Effective audits and regular monitoring of the quality of support delivered was now in place.

Relatives spoke highly of the staff team and the care and support of their family members. Systems were in place, so the home remained safe and effective. People received help and support to thrive in a learning environment and reach their full potential. 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.

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was inadequate (published September 2021).

Why we inspected

At our last inspection we found a breach of regulations in safe care and treatment and also a breach of the provider's quality monitoring systems. This inspection took place so we could monitor the improvements the provider told us they had made.

We planned to look at safe, caring and the well led key questions only. However, we saw that improvements had been made in the other key questions of effective and responsive and made the decision during the inspection to also report on these. Our findings are that both breaches have been met. The overall rating for the service has improved to good. This means the service will no longer be in special measures.

We also undertook this inspection to assess the service is applying the principles of Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture.

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.

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.