Care Outlook (Bellerophon House)

Care Outlook (Bellerophon house) is an extra care service and domiciliary care service providing personal care to younger people, older people and a person with a learning disability. People lived in flats within Bellerophon House in Rochester, Kent and in their own houses and flats in the community within the Medway area. At the time of our inspection there were 66 people using the service (19 people within Bellerophon House and 47 in the community).

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.

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.

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

The service was not always able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right support:

Individual risks were not always assessed and managed to keep people safe. Risk assessments were inconsistent and did not always detail the relevant information staff would need to meet people's assessed care and health needs.

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. Staff supported people with their medicines in a way that promoted their independence and achieved the best possible health outcome. Staff supported people to play an active role in maintaining their own health and wellbeing.

Right Care

Care was person centred and flexible to meet people’s needs. People were supported by a kind and caring staff team who treated them with respect. People's rights were promoted, and they were protected from discrimination. Staff understood their responsibilities to protect people from abuse and knew how to report concerns should they need to.

Right Culture

There was a positive ethos at the service and people were involved in planning their own care and were encouraged to give their views about the support they received. People were supported to develop their skills and to be as independent as possible. The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe.

People gave us positive feedback about their care and support. They told us, “They don’t rush me. They’re very good. They’re patient”; “We have a good relationship”; “They’ve been really nice and supportive”; ‘I’ve got quite friendly with a couple of the ladies [staff]. We often have a good laugh and a chat” and “They’re lovely and they do all the things I need doing.”

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 the service under the previous provider was good (published on 17 March 2020.)

Why we inspected

This is the service’s first inspection since registering with the Care Quality Commission as a new legal entity on 4 February 2021.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have identified a breach in relation to risk management at this inspection. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.