12 April 2023
During an inspection looking at part of the service
CareTech Community Services Limited – 237 Kenton Road is a residential care home providing care to people with a learning disability and autistic people. The home can accommodate up to 12 people in two separate flats, each with shared communal facilities. The ground floor flat is accessible to people with physical impairments. At the time of our inspection 7 people were living at the home.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found.
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.
Right support:
The provider had made improvements to the support they provided to people in relation to recognised models of care for people with a learning disability and autistic people. Staff demonstrated they understood the support people required. Staff were observed to communicate well with people.
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.
Right care:
People’s care plans were person centred, Care plans contained guidance for staff in meeting people’s assessed needs. Staff understood people's wishes and preferences and were observed to support people in a friendly and respectful manner. Where appropriate, staff encouraged people to take positive risks, such as participation in new activities. Staff had engaged with people, health care professionals and other relevant individuals to support people's care and support.
Right culture:
People and those important to them, such as family members had been involved in planning their care and support. People were asked about their needs and preferences and staff developed activities and support to ensure their requests and preferences were met. Staff and managers had received training in supporting people. The training reflected current best practice in supporting people with a learning disabilities and autistic people. Staff were supported to discuss best practice for the people they supported in supervisions and team meetings. People were provided with the support they required to use the home and the local community as they wished.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 2 September 2021) and there were breaches of regulations. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
At our last inspection we recommended that the provider sought guidance in how to engage people and provide person centred care for people with a learning disability and autistic people. At this inspection we found the provider had acted on this recommendation and had made improvements.
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
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 service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.
The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good based on the findings of this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for CareTech Community Services - 237 Kenton Road on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.