- Care home
George Beal House
Report from 9 April 2025 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of assessment: 29 April to 02 May 2025.
George Beal House Short Breaks Service offers short breaks and respite care for up to 12 people with a learning disability, a physical disability and autistic people. Two beds are registered to accommodate emergency and transition short breaks.
The service is a single storey building and has 12 bedrooms all of which are single occupancy. The bedrooms are spread across three interlinked bungalows with 4 bedrooms in 1 bungalow, 6 in another and 2 in the remaining bungalow.
At the time of this inspection 5 people were receiving support with personal care.
We looked at 14 quality statements from the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led key questions and found areas of good practice. Our overall rating remains Good. The scores for these areas have been combined with scores based on the key question ratings from the last inspection.
As part of our assessment methodology for people with a learning disability and autistic people, we assess if services are meeting the Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture (RSRCRC) statutory guidance. This includes:
Right support: Model of care and setting maximises people's choice, control, and independence.
Right care: Care is person-centred and promotes people's dignity, privacy, and human rights.
Right culture: Ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive, and empowered lives.
Staff and managers understood their duty to safeguard people from potential harm and people's risk of experiencing avoidable harm were reduced by the provider's risk assessments and risk management plans. People were respected and valued as individuals, were involved in their care, and asked for feedback regularly about their care.
People, relatives and staff told us the service was well managed. Staff said the service had an inclusive, open family atmosphere and they felt well-supported. Managers and staff worked in partnership with other agencies to ensure people got the care and support they needed.
People's experience of this service
People received respite care that fully met their needs. Staff worked closely with families to ensure people's care was consistent. One relative told us, “The staff always call me if they are unsure about anything. They ask, ‘what’s the best way to do this or that’ so that [family members] routines stay the same and reduces their anxieties.”
Staff we spoke with told us they knew people well, understood their preferences and how they wanted to be cared for and would go out of their way to ensure care was person centred. One staff member said, “I remember once we had 5 people here for respite and they all had different dietary needs. We cooked 5 different meals to make sure everyone had the food they needed.”
Staff completed specialised training on learning disabilities and autism. Some people communicated non-verbally, for example by using sounds, pictures, and symbols. They could interact with staff and others involved in their care and support because staff had the necessary skills to understand them.