Archived: Rydal House

Updated 10 December 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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and a specialist learning disability nurse advisor.

Service and service type

Rydal House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. 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. 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 carried out on 16 October 2019 and was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with four people who used the service and two relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with three members of staff including the registered manager.

We reviewed a range of records. This included six people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 10 December 2019

About the service

Rydal House provides accommodation and personal care for people with a learning disability, mental health needs and/or autism. The service can support up to eight people and at the time of our inspection seven people were living at Rydal House.

The service was bigger than most domestic style properties. It was registered for the support of up to 8 people. 7 people were using the service at the time of the inspection. This is larger than current best practice guidance detailed in Registering the Right Support. However. the size of the service having a negative impact on people was mitigated by the building design fitting into the residential area and the other large domestic homes of a similar size. There were deliberately no identifying signs, intercom, cameras, industrial bins or anything else outside to indicate it was a care home. Staff were also discouraged from wearing anything that suggested they were care staff when coming and going with people. The provider had started to work towards meeting best practice guidance and people were encouraged to increase their independence. The staff culture was changing, and they understood the importance of supporting people when they needed it, whilst prompting people to make their own choices.

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

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; however, the policies and systems in the service did not support this practice.

Changes had been made to improve the design and décor of the environment, however further improvements were still required.

The registered manager demonstrated a commitment to improving the service to enhance the quality of care people received. However, the provider did not have a full oversight of the service and this impacted on the registered manager’s ability to continually drive improvement.

The service had started to apply and was further developing the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence. The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.

People were protected from the risk of abuse and harm and staff had received training to ensure they knew how to keep people safe. Medicines were managed in a safe way. Staff knew people well and supported people in line with their wishes and preferences.

Staff treated people with kindness and consideration and people were encouraged to become as independent as possible. People’s privacy and dignity was upheld.

There was a complaints policy in place and people living at Rydal were given opportunities to feedback about how the home was run. Care plans were personalised, and people had their end of life wishes recorded.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 10 May 2019) and there were two breaches of regulation. At this inspection we found some improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last 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.