11 August 2022
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Fernlea is a residential care home providing care and support to autistic people and people with a learning disability. The home can accommodate a maximum of 13 people in one adapted building. At the time of our inspection there were ten people living in the home.
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Right Support
People were supported with their care needs in this home, but the environment needed improvements in the décor to be more reflective of the people living there as well as to help with effective hygiene. People were having their own rooms decorated, and had input in this, but this process was on-going. People 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. People were supported to maintain their health and wellbeing and had their choices respected.
Right Care
Staff received safeguarding training and could tell us how they protected people from abuse. However, improvements were needed to staff training as staff had not had specific training around the needs of people living in the home. Medicines were safely managed and the manager acted on feedback when areas of improvement were identified during the inspection. Some people wanted more meaningful activities to take part in on a regular basis. People who wanted to go on holiday were supported to pursue this.
Right Culture
Each person had a care and support plan. However, improvements were needed when recording information in care plans to ensure their language was appropriate and empowering to people living in the home. People felt the management was approachable and they would be able to raise concerns with them. Staff felt supported in their role and felt able to report concerns to management if they should arise. Most staff were familiar with people and their needs as they had been there for many years which helped with consistency in care. The home had recruited to all vacant posts to reduce agency use.
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 25 September 2018).
Why we inspected
We received concerns in relation to staff training around mental capacity, specific health conditions and restrictions. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, effective and well-led only.
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 home can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.
For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the effective and well led sections of this full report.
You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Fernlea on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Enforcement
We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.
We have identified breaches in relation to staff training and quality assurance systems at this inspection. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.