Updated 24 July 2025
Dates of assessment: 12 August 2025 to 19 September 2025.The St Anne's Community Services - Smithies Moor Lane is a residential care home providing support to people with a learning disability, and/or autistic people, for up to 6 people. There were 4 people living at the service at the time of our assessment.The assessment was a planned follow up assessment. We found a continuous breach of the regulation relating to good governance. We assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. We found the service was not always working within these principles.
Right support: People were not offered choices in their meals and how they could spend their time. Managers assessed people’s needs before they moved to the service, but care plans did not include information around how people wanted to spend their time, or detail their communication needs. We received feedback from relatives that they were not always involved in care planning. Risks associated with people had been appropriately assessed and staff had good knowledge of how to mitigate people’s risks. Staff knew people’s needs well and what to look out for that would indicate concerns about their health and wellbeing.
Right care: The service did not focus on continuous learning, innovation and improvement. The provider did not hold complete records in respect of care and treatment delivered to people. People’s communication needs had not been assessed effectively. The service was on the ground floor and was easily accessible for people who used a wheelchair. People did not have activity plans which meant they did not have the opportunity to engage in activities that met their needs and aspirations. The provider ensured there was continuity of care when people moved to the service and a transition plan for when they were ready to move out.
Right culture:Staff felt confident in dealing with people when they became distressed. Not all staff were up to date with training for their role and not all staff had received supervision in line with the provider’s policy. A range of activities was organised for people out in the community, but these were planned for people rather than with them.
This service is being placed into special measures. The purpose of special measures is to ensure that services providing inadequate care make significant improvements. Special measures provides a framework within which we use our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care and provide a timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of the care they provide.