We carried out a review of the data available to us about Sunnyside House Limited on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Sunnyside House Limited, you can give feedback on this service.
Sunnyside House provides accommodation with personal care for up to 14 adults, specialising in supporting people with learning disabilities to develop life skills to support their transition into independent living. The service consists of 12 en-suite bedrooms and two additional independence transition flats with their own kitchen. The service is located close to the local facilities, including, library, pub, shops, and health services.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People living at Sunnyside House liked to refer to themselves as 'Learners'. This is because the service is set up to be a stepping stone to independent living and focuses on equipping people with the skills and confidence they will need to develop; therefore we have used this term to describe people using this service.
Staff at Sunnyside House were exceptionally responsive and caring in meeting people’s individual care and support needs resulting in positive outcomes for learners. One relative told us, “I’ve never come across an organisation like this, five-star rating all the time.” Another said their family member, “Is just so happy there, you can’t get more than that, if [family member] is happy we are happy…We are happy with everything, we work together, overall understanding of people’s needs is very good.”
Staff were highly motivated, caring and compassionate, sharing a joint focus of supporting learners to receive a high-quality service and to be as independent as possible. Learners spoke about the close bonds they had developed with staff, and the person-centred support they received to overcome any barriers which were preventing them achieving their goals.
Learners were supported in a clean and hygienic environment. One relative told us, “It’s always clean.” Staff followed safe infection prevention and control processes and guidance was available to support staff and update relatives, including visiting arrangements, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Risk’s to learner’s safety were assessed. Learners told us they felt safe, and if they had any worries knew who to talk to. Staff knew how to report any concerns. Learners received their medicines as prescribed and had access to a range of health and social care professionals when needed.
The service followed safe recruitment procedures, and ensured there were enough, trained and skilled staff available to meet learner’s needs. Staff praised the induction they received, their supportive colleagues, and positive teamwork.
The registered manager engaged and consulted well with learners, relatives, staff, health and social care professionals. Learners engaged with the management team and were aware when they were on duty. Staff felt supported and valued, saying they would recommend the service as a good place to work.
The provider had systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service and worked well alongside other professionals and external agencies to meet learner’s needs. This included systems to support learners, their relatives and staff to feedback their views and influence change.
Learners 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.
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 were able to demonstrate how they were meeting, and exceeding the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture. A significant emphasis continued to be placed on providing person centred care to enable learners to set and achieve their goals to be as independent as they could be. Although the model and size of the service was not in line with current best practice guidance; it did not impact on learners having choice and control over their lives. Learners were continually involved in making choices and decisions regarding their home and told us they felt listened to. Staff’s focus worked in a way which empowered and promoted learner’s independence.
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 6 February 2018)
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.
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 good to outstanding. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
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.
Sunnyside House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.
Sunnyside House is registered to accommodate up to fourteen people who have learning disabilities who require nursing or personal care. The service does not provide nursing care. The service specialises in working with people towards developing independence with a view to them moving on into the community. Sunnyside House is a large detached property situated close to the centre of Aveley.
The 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.
The service requires and did have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
At our previous inspection in August 2015, the service was rated Good in all five domains. At this inspection we rated the key question ‘Is the service Responsive?’ as Outstanding. The other four key questions remained Good.
Staff at Sunnyside House were exceptionally responsive to people's individual care and support needs resulting in positive outcomes for people using the service. Significant emphasis was placed on providing person centred care to enable people to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives. This included, supporting people to acquire independent living skills to enable them to move on from Sunnyside House to more independent living settings. People, including where appropriate their relatives and health and social care professionals, were actively encouraged to be involved in the planning and review of their care and support needs.
Staff had a good understanding and knowledge of people’s backgrounds and the goals they wanted to achieve whilst living at the service. People were actively encouraged and supported by staff to follow their hobbies and interests and pursue educational and job opportunities. All activities were tailored around people's likes, choices and abilities.
People told us they felt safe and well supported by the staff at Sunnyside House. Robust recruitment systems were in place which ensured staff were of good character and suitable for their roles. There were sufficient numbers of staff to help keep people safe, meet their needs and protect them from harm and abuse. Staff had received safeguarding adults training and understood the various types of abuse and how to report any concerns.
The service took a positive approach to risk taking to enhance the quality of peoples life's and people were encouraged to be independent and to take everyday risks. Where risks to people's individual health and well-being had been identified, these had been appropriately managed. Where appropriate, people were supported with their medicines by staff who had received training in the safe management of medicines.
People were supported by staff who had completed and received on-going training to ensure they had the skills and knowledge required to provide effective care. Staff had a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and how this applied to their role and people were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives. People were supported to have enough to eat and drink and to acquire the skills to maintain a balanced and healthy lifestyle. When required, people were supported to access health care services.
People were cared for by staff who knew them very well and who were kind and sensitive to their individual needs. There was a strong culture within the service of treating people with dignity and respect. People were encouraged to maintain relationships with people that were important to them. This included supporting people to visit, and receive visits from, their friends, partners and relatives.
The registered manager demonstrated strong values and a commitment to providing a good service which focussed on enabling people to achieve positive outcomes and have a good quality of life. Staff embraced the ethos and values of the service, were highly motivated and proud to work at Sunnyside House.
There was an open and inclusive culture within the service and people and staff were regularly asked for their feedback and encouraged to put forward suggestions to help improve the service. There were effective quality assurance systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and to drive continuous improvements.
We inspected Sunnyside House Limited on the 26 August 2015.
The service provides accommodation and support for up to 14 people who may have learning difficulties and complex needs. There were 14 people living at the service at the time of our inspection.
The service had a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
People were cared for by staff that had been recruited and employed after appropriate checks were completed. There were enough staff available to support people.
Records were regularly updated and staff were provided with the information they needed to meet people’s needs. People's care and treatment was planned and delivered in a way that was intended to ensure people's safety and welfare.
Staff and the manager were able to explain to us what they would do to keep people safe and how they would protect their rights. Staff had been provided with training in safeguarding adults from abuse, Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS).
People were relaxed in the company of staff. Staff were able to demonstrate they knew people well and treated people with dignity and respect.
People who used the service were provided with the opportunity to participate in activities which interested them; these activities were diverse to meet people’s social needs.
The service worked well with other professionals to ensure that people's health needs were met. Where appropriate, support and guidance was sought from health care professionals, including people’s G.Ps, psychiatrists and community nurses.
People knew how to raise a concern or make a complaint; any complaints were resolved efficiently and quickly.
The manager had a number of ways of gathering views on the service including holding meetings with people, staff and talking with relatives.
The manager and provider carried out a number of quality monitoring audits to ensure the service was running effectively.
People told us that they felt safe. They said that the manager and the staff were very friendly, caring and kind. Staff interaction throughout our inspection visit was good. Staff had been given information and training on safeguarding adults and they showed a good awareness of the procedures.
The provider had good quality assurance processes. Regular audits of the service's systems and practices had taken place. People received safe, effective and compassionate care from a well-led service that responded quickly to their changing needs.
People that use the service told us that they were happy living at Sunnyside House, one person told us, "Yes the staff are very kind." Another person told us, "They help us here."
Sunnyside House is a home that promotes independence at all times. People who use the service are offered a training scheme called 'My Life' which encourages and assists them to achieve a higher level of independence. Sunnyside House had two flats on the premises, one was aimed at someone with a diagnosis of Autism and the other was a transitional flat. Staff told us there are three people up to the date of our visit who had completed 'My life' training and are now living in the community.
Some people using the service accessed the community independently, others told us that staff supported them in accessing the local and wider community, so that they could take part in their chosen interests and activities. People also told us that they were satisfied with the way the home is run and with staff attitudes towards them.