Desboro House

Desboro House is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to eight people at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to eight people.

The service was designed taking into account best practice guidance and the principles and values underpinning Registering the Right Support. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with a learning disability were supported to live as ordinary a life as any citizen. There were deliberately no identifying signs or anything else outside to indicate it was a care home.

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

Systems and processes supported staff to keep people safe. Quality assurance audits and checks were completed by the registered manager and provider, to identify areas of improvement and monitor key aspects of the service

People were safe at the service as staff understood their roles in managing any possible safeguarding issues. Risks to people’s safety were assessed and measures were in place to mitigate them and keep people safe.

People were supported by sufficient numbers of staff who received training for their role. The provider undertook safe recruitment processes to ensure people were supported by a suitable staff group.

People received their medicines from staff who were competent and trained. Staff employed safe practices to control the risks of infection at the service and there were processes in place to learn from incidents and accidents to reduce the risk of reoccurrence.

People’s nutritional and health needs were well managed and the environment they lived in was well maintained. The service had several communal areas for people to use, both inside and outside the property.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives. Staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People were supported by a caring staff group who respected their choices. People had the opportunity to voice their opinions on their care and were supported when needed with the services of advocates.

People received care in a personalised way, care and support needs were planned with people to meet their specific needs. Staff we spoke with showed a good understanding of people’s needs, information in the care plans supported this.

People were supported to maintain relationships with their families, follow their hobbies and be involved in social activities. Information was provided in ways people could understand and there was accessible information around the service to support people should they wish to make a complaint.

People and staff told us the registered manager was approachable, and both people and staff were able to voice their opinions about the service and felt they were listened to. The registered manager worked to provide an open person-centred approach to people’s care and worked with other health care professionals to achieve this.

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 14 September 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the rating 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.

We carried out this announced inspection on 15 August 2017. We gave the service a short period of notice. This was because the people who lived there had complex needs for care and benefited from knowing in advance that we would be calling.

Desboro House is registered to provide accommodation and personal care for eight people who have a learning disability. At the time of our inspection visit there were seven people living in the service.

The service was run by a charitable body that was the registered provider. There was 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. In this report when we speak about both the charitable body who ran the service and the registered manager we refer to them as being, ‘the registered persons’.

At the last inspection on 28 November 2014 the service was rated Good.

At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

Care staff knew how to keep people safe from the risk of abuse including financial mistreatment. People had been supported to take reasonable risks while also being assisted to avoid preventable accidents. Medicines were safely managed. There were enough care staff on duty and background checks had been completed before new care staff had been appointed.

Care staff knew how to care for people in the right way and they had received training and guidance. People were involved in preparing their meals and care staff were supporting people to follow a healthy diet. In addition, people had been helped to obtain all of the healthcare assistance they needed.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and care staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. Policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People were treated with compassion and respect. Care staff recognised people’s right to privacy and promoted their dignity. There were arrangements to enable people to access independent lay advocates and confidential information was kept private.

Care staff had involved people and their relatives in making decisions about the care that was provided. People had been had been supported to be as independent as possible and they had been helped to pursue their hobbies and interests. There were arrangements for quickly and fairly resolving complaints.

People had been consulted about the development of their home and quality checks had been completed. The registered persons had told us about important events that had occurred and they had displayed the quality ratings we had given to the service. Good team work was promoted and care staff were supported to speak out if they had any concerns.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

Care plans were detailed and person centred. People said they knew what information they contained as they were involved in their development. Care plans were available for staff to refer to if needed. This meant people received the care and support they needed and which protected their rights.

The areas of the home we saw were clean, tidy and well maintained. People said they found their rooms to be comfortable and they could arrange and furnish them how they wished.

We saw there were good systems in place for people to receive their medication regularly and in a safe way.

People received care from staff who were well trained and supported to carry out their role. People told us they liked the staff. One person said, 'I love it here.'

There were a range of ways in which people could raise concerns and complaints if they wished and for them to be supported to do so. There were good systems in place to make sure any complaints raised were properly looked into and where possible resolved.

People told us they liked all the activities and trips out. One person told us they were looking forward to seeing the wrestling at Skegness that evening. Another person told us how much they enjoyed the drama club and looking after the animals.

People we spoke with confirmed they felt safe at the service. They told us they could talk with the staff if they had any concerns. They told us they liked living at the home and we received comments such as, 'It's absolutely brilliant here' and 'I like living here.'

People were cared for, or supported by, enough suitably qualified, skilled and experienced staff. Throughout our inspection we observed good interactions and found people who used the service were relaxed and happy in the care of the staff.