The Care Quality Commission
  • Care Home
  • Care home

Archived: Smallwood

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Wards Drove, Blandford St Mary, Blandford Forum, Dorset, DT11 9LZ (01258) 488451

Provided and run by:
Voyage 1 Limited

Important: The provider of this service changed. See old profile

All Inspections

7 January 2022

During an inspection looking at part of the service

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.

About the service

Smallwood is a residential service that provides 24-hour care and support to autistic people living in two separate buildings on the same site. The home comprises of the Main House, which accommodates up to five people and the Cottage which can accommodate up to three people. At the time of the inspection there were five people living in the Main House and two people living in the Cottage. The home is set in a rural location in Blandford Forum.

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

The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture

Right Support

¿ People were supported by staff to pursue their interests.

¿ Staff enabled people to access specialist health and social care support in the community.

¿ The service worked with people to plan for when they experienced periods of distress so that their freedoms were restricted only if there was no alternative to keep them and others safe.

¿ Staff supported people with their medicines in a way that promoted their independence and achieved the best possible health outcome.

Right Care

¿ Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it.

¿ Staff promoted equality and diversity in their support for people. They understood people’s cultural needs and provided culturally appropriate care.

¿ The service had enough appropriately skilled and knowledgeable staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe.

¿ Staff and people cooperated to assess risks people might face. Where appropriate, staff encouraged and enabled people to take positive risks.

Right culture

¿ Staff placed people’s wishes, needs and rights at the heart of everything they did.

¿ People received good quality care, support and treatment because trained staff and specialists could meet their needs and wishes.

¿ People and those important to them were involved in planning their care.

¿ Staff ensured risks of a closed culture were minimised so that people received support based on transparency, respect and inclusivity.

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 07 June 2018).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to an incident of inappropriate conduct by a staff member which was then not reported by another staff member present. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

The overall rating for the service has remained good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

We found evidence that an isolated incident occurred that did not involve or cause harm to people living at Smallwood. We referred the matter to the Police and local safeguarding team who reviewed the available evidence and decided to take no further action. When we brought the incident to the provider’s attention they immediately conducted a thorough investigation and took appropriate action.

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. This included checking the provider was meeting COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

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.

25 April 2018

During a routine inspection

Smallwood is a residential care home for up to eight people who have an autistic spectrum disorder. The home comprises of the Main House, which accommodates up to five people and the Cottage which can accommodate up to three people. At the time of the inspection there were five people living in the Main House and two people living in the Cottage. The home is set in a rural location in Blandford Forum.

At our last inspection we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and on-going monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

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.

The care service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

People were protected from abuse because staff understood how to keep them safe. All staff informed us they were confident concerns would be followed up if they were raised. People appeared happy and relaxed in the company of the staff.

People received their medicines safely. Although there were staff vacancies within the staff team, the registered manager ensured there were enough suitable staff on each shift to meet people’s needs.

Risk assessments were carried out to enable people to retain their independence and access the community.

Staff were suitably skilled, and they received on-going training and support to ensure they had the skills and knowledge required to effectively support people.

People were involved in planning their menus and supported to eat and drink according to their likes and dislikes.

Where people lacked capacity to make specific decisions the correct procedures were usually followed in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Staff monitored people’s health and well-being and made sure they had access to other healthcare professionals according to their individual needs.

Staff had built trusting relationships with people. Staff interactions with people were positive and caring. Staff were very skilled at communicating with people.

People were involved in decisions about the care and support they receive as much as they were able to. People received care and support which ensured they were able to make choices about their day to day lives.

People were supported to plan and achieve their goals. There was an emphasis on enabling people to be as independent as they could be and to live a happy and fulfilling life.

Relatives were complimentary about the staff and management; they felt able to raise any concerns and were confident they would be responded to appropriately.

The service was well led by a registered manager who had the right skills and knowledge to undertake their role. Relatives, professionals and staff spoke very highly of the registered manager.

The registered manager and staff actively promoted a positive, inclusive and open culture; this approach had a positive impact on the quality of the service people received. Staff felt well supported by their managers and their morale within the team was positive.

There were effective systems in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service provided.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

2 December 2015

During a routine inspection

This inspection took place on 2 December 2015.

Smallwood is registered to provide accommodation for up to eight people. It is a home for people who are on the autistic spectrum. At the time of our inspection six people were living there. The service consisted of two buildings. Four people lived in the main house and two people lived in the cottage. There was one vacant room in the main house. The cottage had a spare room however the registered manager told us they would not currently use it as it would mean the cottage would become too crowded.

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.

People had detailed personalised support plans which enabled staff to provide the right care and support to ensure people’s needs were met. People had an individualised activity programme which was based on their interests. Staff understood the importance of supporting people to maintain their preferred routines. They were respectful of their diverse needs. Staff knew the best way of communicating with individuals which varied according to the person.

Relatives and staff told us the care was person centred and people’s needs were reviewed regularly. There was an annual review of people’s needs, which relatives and healthcare professionals were invited to, as appropriate. This was an opportunity to ensure the support plans were working for people. There were additional reviews throughout the year depending on people’s needs.

People were cared for by staff who were kind and considerate. Staff were flexible to the needs of people and were able to support them safely. People were supported to live their lives fully. Peoples care records gave staff information to enable them to avoid situations that may trigger unwanted behaviour. Staff had a flexible approach to their work to ensure people’s choice was encouraged and respected.

Relatives, staff and healthcare professionals spoke highly about the registered manager. They told us the registered manager had made improvements to the service and had created a positive culture which encouraged continual improvement. There were robust systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and to ensure any actions were followed up.

There was a culture of learning and staff told us there were opportunities to attend various in house training opportunities as well as work towards qualifications in health and social care. Staff told us they felt supported. There was a system for staff to reflect following incidents, in debrief sessions. These encouraged the team to identify interventions which worked well and what did not work well, which created an opportunity for staff to improve how they supported people. Staff received regular supervision and an annual appraisal.

The registered manager was supportive of new staff and told us they introduced them gently into the work. They were respectful of staffs’ individual needs and were flexible in their approach to accommodate them.