About the service Crann Dara is residential care home providing personal care to people with learning disabilities and associated behaviours which may challenge. There were five people being supported at the time of inspection. The service can support up to seven people in one adapted building.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
There were safeguarding adults' procedures in place to guide staff. The registered manager and staff had a clear understanding of these procedures. There were appropriate recruitment checks before staff started work and there were enough staff available to meet people's care needs and to support people to take their medicines.
The provider and staff were following government guidance in relation to infection prevention and control. Staff had received training on COVID-19 and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE). The service had business continuity and COVID-19 contingency plans in place that made provisions for safe care in the event of an emergency, or an outbreak of COVID-19.
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.
People received care which was person centred and was regularly reviewed to ensure it continued to meet their needs. Staff communicated with people according to their documented preferences and abilities and supported them to access the community and activities of their choice.
Quality assurance processes provided oversight of the service. The registered manager worked to continuously improve people's lives and valued working in partnership with and learning from others to achieve this.
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.
This service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.
Right support:
• People were supported to live within a setting that met their individual needs. Staff encouraged people to make day to day choices, including around food, activities and community access. The provider engaged with local healthcare and commissioning partnerships in order to provide the best care possible.
Right care:
• Care was provided in a person-centred way which promoted people's dignity and rights. Staff understood people's specific care needs and preferences and supported them in according to those wishes. Those who could told us they felt respected and for others, we spoke with a family member and other professionals who confirmed this view. Staff enabled people to make choices about how they wished to be supported in their day to day living.
Right culture:
• There was a positive culture in Crann Dara, where the leadership team and staff showed commitment to those whom they supported. They spoke with passion and knowledge about their role, central to which was to empower people to live the best life possible in the least restrictive way. Staff told us their vision was to continue to support people to lead as fulfilled a life as possible.
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 Requires Improvement (published 17 September 2019 ).
Why we inspected
This was a focused inspection based on the previous rating. We reviewed the information we held about the service. We inspected the key questions of safe, responsive and well-led. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.
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.
The overall rating for the service has changed from Requires Improvement to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Crann Dara on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.