Oakcroft

Updated 25 November 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 2 inspectors.

Service and service type

Oakcroft is a 'care home'. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under 1 contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Oakcroft is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 1 person who used the service. We spent time in shared spaces with the other 3 people who used the service, getting feedback and observing the quality of care and support they received. This helped us to understand the experiences of people who we were unable to effectively communicate with. We spoke with 3 people’s relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 6 members of staff, including the registered manager, the operations manager, another member of the management team and 3 care workers. We reviewed a range of records. This included 4 people's care and medicines records. We looked at 4 staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 25 November 2023

About the service

Oakcroft is a residential care home providing personal care for up to 4 people. The service provides support to people who live with learning disabilities and autistic people in 1 adapted building. At the time of our inspection there were 4 people using the service.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, 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: 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: Care was person-centred and promoted people’s dignity, privacy and human rights.

Right Culture: The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensured people using the service lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives.

Support plans and risk assessments were person-centred, regularly reviewed and updated.

Staff had received training in safeguarding adults and knew how to identify and report abuse. There were enough staff to keep people safe.

Medicines administration records (MARs) confirmed people had received their medicines as prescribed.

Infection prevention and control was managed in line with the providers policy.

Relevant recruitment checks were conducted before staff started working at the home to make sure they were of good character and had the necessary skills.

Governance systems in place were effective at driving improvement.

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 21 October 2017).

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.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Oakcroft 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.