About the service Heathcotes (Magna) is a residential care home providing personal care to four people at the time of the inspection. The service specialised in supporting people who have learning disabilities, autism, Asperger’s syndrome and challenging behaviour.
The care home was registered to support up to six people in one adapted building.
The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service should receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
There were not always enough care staff to safely meet people’s needs. This also limited the opportunities for people to go out and engage in activities in the local community.
People’s medication was not managed effectively and the information available to care staff in care plans was not always accurate.
Care staff had not all received safeguarding children training. This meant some staff did not know how to keep young people safe from abuse or how to report incidents to the relevant authorities.
Notifiable incidents, involving people, were not always reported to CQC. This meant the relevant authorities were not always able to ensure people were receiving appropriate care and support.
Lessons were not always learned when things went wrong. Reviews took place after incidents but were not effective and did not always lead to improvements in the care people received.
People were supported by some care staff who had not received the necessary training. This was especially the case at night time. This meant people were not always supported appropriately.
People had been restrained by some care staff who were not up to date with their training and who carried out unauthorised restraint techniques.
People had personalised their bedrooms. However, the communal areas needed refurbishment following damage caused by a person. This meant the house did not feel ‘homely’ or relaxing.
People were able to make use of the garden area, and enclosed carpark, for outdoor activities.
People had enough to eat and were offered a range of different foods, as well as being supported to go out into the community for meals occasionally.
Care staff treated people with kindness, but people’s dignity was not always maintained by the way care staff supported them to dress.
Some people had found it difficult to cope with the frequent changes in managers and care staff at the care home. That negatively affected the support people received.
Some people were supported to maintain contact with their families, but other people were not.
The registered manager had a quality assurance system in place to monitor the safety and quality of the service. However, this was not being fully, or effectively, used to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service provided to people.
People were supported to access community healthcare support, and had health action plans in place.
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 5 July 2017).
Why we inspected
The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about the improper use of restraint on people who can present behaviours that are challenging. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the five key question sections of this full report.
You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
Since the inspection took place the provider notified CQC about a change of registered manager.
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 return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.