• Care Home
  • Care home

Archived: Tudor House

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Farm Lane, Maidenhatch, Pangbourne, Reading, Berkshire, RG8 8HP (0118) 974 5030

Provided and run by:
Affinity Trust

All Inspections

17 February 2016

During a routine inspection

Tudor House is a care home which is registered to provide care (without nursing) for up to six people with learning disabilities. The home is a detached building within a secluded area of West Berkshire. People have their own bedrooms and use of communal areas that includes an enclosed private garden. The people living in the home needed care from staff at all times and have a range of care needs.

The service had 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.

People who use the service had a range of communication abilities that ranged from verbal communication to the use of picture references to indicate their needs and wishes. These were understood by staff and enabled them to support those individual’s to make choices and express their views. Staff treated people with kindness and respect. They had contact with families of people who wanted to be involved to make sure they were fully informed about the care and support their relative received.

People’s safety was promoted within the home and they were involved in the recruitment of staff. The recruitment and selection process helped to ensure people were supported by staff of good character. There was a sufficient number of qualified and trained staff to meet people’s needs safely. This included existing and agency staff to make up the staff team. Staff knew how to recognise and report any concerns they had about the care and welfare of people to protect them from abuse. People’s medicine was managed safely.

People were provided with effective care from a staff team who had received support through supervision, staff meetings and training. Their care and support plans had been reviewed and detailed how they wanted their needs to be met. Risk assessments identified risks associated with personal and specific behavioural and or health related issues. They helped to promote people’s independence whilst minimising any risks.

The service had taken the necessary action to ensure they were working in a way which recognised and maintained people’s rights. They understood the relevance of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA), Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and consent issues which related to the people and their care.

People were encouraged to live a fulfilled life with activities of their choosing that were structured around their needs and individual to each person. Meals were nutritious and varied and people told us the food at the service was good.

People had the opportunity to be involved in decisions about the home. This included discussions and consent from people about the provider’s proposal to relocate the service to an area within the heart of a community village. This was to minimise the risk of social isolation for the people who lived in Tudor House and to give them better access to services within the community.

People benefitted from living at a service that had an open and friendly culture. The provider had an effective system to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people received. There were various formal methods used for assessing and improving the quality of care. This had resulted in improved quality monitoring processes and records to support people the way they wanted to be supported.

11 December 2013

During a routine inspection

In this report the name of a registered manager appears who was not in post and not managing the regulatory activities at this location at the time of the inspection. Their name appears because they were still a Registered Manager on our register at the time. At the time of the inspection the home was being managed by an interim manager. Recruitment was in progress for a permanent person. We spoke with the interim manager and two other staff members.

We met with all four of the people living in the home. We spoke with two of them who told us they were happy living in Tudor House. One said 'the staff are great, they look after me well'. They also said 'if I have a problem, I tell the staff and they help me sort it out'.

We observed people being offered choices and encouraged to make decisions. One person told us they were involved in what went on in the house. They said they enjoyed household tasks such as cleaning, tidying and meal preparation.

We looked at all four care and support plans. We found they were accurate and detailed. We observed that the care and support given by staff reflected what was written in the plans.

There was a process in place for the safe storage, handling, administration, recording and destruction of medication.

Records we viewed were current, accurate and kept in line with the provider's policy.

16 April 2012

During a routine inspection

Some people told us that they liked living in the home. Staff were kind and they could talk to them if they had concerns. One person said that they 'liked Tudor House' & 'staff are ok'. People were involved with their care and the running of the home. Some people had individual communication needs and were unable to provide their views about their experiences of living in the home.