Archived: Two School Cottages

Updated 18 April 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

One inspector carried out this inspection.

Service and service type:

Two School Cottages is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care. 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. The service is required to have 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:

This inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of our inspection because the service is small and people living there are often out and being supported by the registered manager, we needed to be sure that they were in. Inspection site visit activity took place on Friday 8 March 2019.

What we did:

• We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about. We assessed the information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

• We spoke with two people who used the service.

• We also spoke with two members of staff including the registered manager during our site visit. Following our site visit we spoke by telephone to a relative of one person. We also requested and received written feedback from a community health professional that supports a person living at Two School Cottages.

• We observed how people received their care in communal areas of the service.

• We looked at records in relation to people who used the service.

• We also looked at records relating to the management of the service, recruitment, policies and systems for monitoring quality.

Updated 18 April 2019

About the service:

Two School Cottages is a residential care home registered to provide accommodation and personal care for people with a learning disability. It is registered to provide support for a maximum of two people. At the time of our inspection, two people were using the service. The service is run by a provider who are a married couple, one of whom is the registered manager, in their own home. They are the only paid employed staff, however, people also receive support from volunteer staff who receive the same training and support as paid staff.

The care service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen ' Registering the Right Support' CQC policy.

People’s experience of using this service:

People continued to receive care that was safe, effective, caring, responsive to their needs and well-led. People told us they felt safe and were very happy living at Two School Cottages. People were supported to take their medicines in a safe way.

Staff had received appropriate training and support to enable them to carry out their role safely. Peoples health was well managed and staff had positive links with professionals, which promoted well-being for them.

Staff were very kind and caring and promoted people’s dignity. Staff understood the importance of treating people with respect and ensured they did this. People were observed to have good relationships with the staff team and their extended family within the domestic setting the service was in. Staff actively ensured people maintained links with their friends and family.

People's records clearly identified their preferences. Staff provided effective care for people, which met their needs through person-centred care planning. People enjoyed an extensive programme of activities both in the service and the local community. Complaints were managed within the providers stated process.

Rating at last inspection: Good (Published June 2016)

Why we inspected: This was a scheduled inspection based on our previous rating.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk