Background to this inspection
Updated
21 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.
Inspection team
The inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.
Service and service type
Viola House Avenue is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Viola House is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.
The service had a manager who had begun the process to register with the Care Quality Commission.
This inspection was announced.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since it was registered with the CQC. The provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). The PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. The PIR also provides data about the organisation and service. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with 1 person using the service. Some people who lived at Viola House had learning disabilities and other complex needs. They were unable to communicate with us in a way which we always understood. We spent considerable time observing care to help us understand their experience. We received responses to our questions from 6 relatives of people receiving care. We also received feedback from 6 staff. With spoke with the team leader, the registered manager, and operations director. We looked at care records of 4 people, recruitment background information of 5 staff, audits, and other records about the management of the service, including selected policies and procedures.
Updated
21 June 2023
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 Care Quality Commission (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
Viola House provides accommodation and personal care and support for a maximum of 12 adults with a learning disability and autism. There were seven people living in the home at the time of our 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:
The service supported people to have the maximum possible choice, control and independence so they had control over their own lives. The service gave people care and support in a safe, clean, well equipped, well-furnished, and well-maintained environment that met their sensory and physical needs. People had a choice about their living environment and were able to personalise their rooms. Staff enabled people to access specialist health and social care support in the community.
Right care:
People received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to their individual needs. People who had individual ways of communicating, using body language, sounds, pictures and symbols could interact comfortably with staff and others involved in their treatment because staff had the necessary skills to understand them. The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe.
Right culture:
People received good care and support because trained staff and specialists could meet their needs and wishes. Staff knew and understood people well. People and those important to them, including families, were involved in planning their care. 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.
People’s relatives told us the provider had worked hard to improve care and support for people using the service. The new registered manager has a positive impact and was described in complimentary terms by staff and families.
People lived safely and free from unwarranted restrictions because the provider assessed, monitored, and managed safety well. The assessments provided information about how to support people to ensure risks were reduced but did not limit people’s right to take reasonable risks.
The service had enough staff. Pre-employment checks had been carried out. These checks helped to ensure only suitable applicants were offered work with people.
People received their medicines safely. They were supported by staff who followed systems and processes to administer, record and store medicines safely. We observed from records people received their medicines on time.
People were protected from the risks associated with poor infection control because the service used effective infection, prevention and control measures to keep people, staff and visitors were safe.
People's health needs were met. The care files we looked at included details of health action plans and management of day-to-day healthcare needs.
There was a process in place to report, monitor and learn from accidents and incidents.
Governance processes were effective and helped to assess, monitor, and check the quality of the service provided to people. Audits had been carried out on a range of areas critical to the delivery of care.
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 4 May 2018).
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.
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.