Background to this inspection
Updated
30 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 two inspectors and a medicines inspector.
Service and service type
River Court Short Breaks Service is a ‘care home’ which operates as a respite service. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.
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 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small and people are often out and we wanted to be sure there would be people at home to speak with us.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we held about the service, including feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The provider shared information with CQC through the capacity tracker which is a web-based tool which enables providers to share information about staffing levels and the impact of COVID-19 on their services with CQC. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
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
Inspection site activity took place on 9 and 15 September. Where people were non-verbal and unable to communicate with us we carried out observations of the support people received at the service. This included when people were supported to cook and eat food and individual and group activities. We looked at the premises and records of health and safety checks. We looked at records of staff training and support and medicines management for three people.
After the inspection
We made calls to five family members of people who used the service and four care workers. We continued to review information we had requested from the provider. We looked at records of care and support for five people and records of staff training, recruitment and supervision. We reviewed the provider’s policies and information relating to future service planning and development.
Updated
30 December 2021
About the service
Rivercourt Short Breaks Service is a care home which operates as a respite service. It provides short stays and emergency accommodation and personal care for people with a learning disability and autistic people. It is registered to accommodate up to five people at a time.
People’s experience of using this service
People and their families were universally positive about the service. Family members spoke of the strong trust they had in the leadership and how the service was key to helping them maintain their caring responsibilities. People spoke of the times they had received support from the service during family emergencies. The service reached out to families to provide practical support during the COVID-19 pandemic. A family member told us “They’ve always been there for us. Without that help, I don’t know where I’d be.”
People told us their relatives always looked forward to visiting the service and expressed happiness when they knew they were due to attend. The service understood people’s communication needs and worked to help people develop these. People were actively involved in planning and preparing meals and drinks. People were supported to identify goals and skills they wished to develop, and the service worked with people and wider day opportunities to help them develop their skills and undertake meaningful activities and employment.
The provider managed risks to people in a way which protected their rights and opportunities, with a strong understanding of what people’s behaviour meant and how best to respond to this. An understanding of people’s communication needs was strongly integrated into every aspect of care and support. Staff were safely recruited, and staffing levels and skills were planned to safely meet people’s needs. There were suitable procedures to manage people’s medicines safely.
The service planned people’s stay and support in a way which reduced their risks from contracting or spreading COVID-19. There were suitable systems of testing and infection control, and the provider offered practical support to people and their families to participate in these.
The management of the service had a clear vision of how to develop the service in partnership with people and their families and worked closely with families and local services to do this.
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.
Right support, right care, right culture
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 meeting the underpinning principles of Right Support, right care, right culture.
Right support: The service’s unique model of care supported people’s choice and independence and provided person-centred care.
Right care: People were supported to be full participants in their local communities and develop work and training opportunities of their choice.
Right culture: The leadership of the service helped empower people and their families to shape local services to meet their needs.
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 outstanding (published 2 May 2019).
Why we inspected
We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated good and outstanding to test the reliability of our new monitoring approach.
Follow up
We will continue to review information we receive about this service in line with our monitoring activity, which will inform when we next inspect the service.