Dimensions Somerset The Maples

Dimensions Somerset The Maples is a residential care home providing personal care to 5 people at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 6 people. The home is situated in a residential area of the town Castle Cary.

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

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

People were supported by staff to pursue their interests. Staff supported people to achieve their aspirations and goals. 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. Staff communicated with people in ways that met their needs. People’s medicines were managed safely.

Right Care

People received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. Staff understood and responded to people’s individual needs. 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 and people cooperated to assess risks people might face. People who had individual ways of communicating, using body language and sounds, could interact comfortably with staff and others involved in their care and support because staff had the necessary skills to understand them.

Right Culture

People led inclusive and empowered lives because of the ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of the management and staff. Staff knew and understood people well and were responsive, supporting their aspirations to live a quality life of their choosing. Staff evaluated the quality of support provided to people, involving the person, their families, and other professionals as appropriate.

We made a recommendation relating to the management of some medicines.

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 (03 October 2018).

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.

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

Dimensions Somerset The Maples is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Dimensions Somerset The Maples provides care and accommodation for up to six people who ¿have a learning disability and other complex health needs. It is operated by Dimensions Somerset ¿Sev Limited, part of a national not for profit organisation providing services for people with ¿learning disabilities, autism and complex needs. Six people were living in the home at the time of ¿our inspection. ¿ Some of the people we met could verbally communicate with us and others were not. Their opinions were captured through observations, interactions they had with staff and their reactions.

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.

At the time of the inspection there was a registered manager in place. 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 registered manager and staff went above and beyond what was expected of them to ensure people received care and support in a caring, respectful and dignified way. Even with limited verbal communication people could express an opinion about the care provided and contributed to their care plans.

People indicated they felt safe living at The Maples. One relative told us, “I know [the person] is safe living here, the staff and manager are brilliant.”

There were processes and practices in place to keep people safe. The provider had a robust recruitment programme which meant all new staff were checked to ensure they were suitable to work with vulnerable people. All staff had received training in safeguarding vulnerable people and children. All staff spoken to were able to tell us what they would look for and how they would report anything they thought put people at risk of harm or abuse.

People received effective care and support from staff who had the skills and knowledge to meet their needs. All staff attended an induction which included the companies’ mandatory training before they started to work with people. Staff also received training about the specific needs people had for example, the safe management of epilepsy. The registered manager had also arranged training for staff in recognising why people’s behaviour can challenge or be expressive. This meant staff could recognise the reasons behind the needs of a specific person.

People received responsive care and support which was personalised to their individual needs and wishes. Staff were innovative in finding ways to improve people’s lives and help them to achieve their goals and expectations. People were very active in the local community and because of the approach taken by staff people were beginning to be respected by the local community. There was clear guidance for staff on how to communicate with people and how to know when a person was not happy or distressed. People were supported to access health care services and see healthcare professionals when necessary.

People were supported by a team that was well led. Everybody spoken to said they thought the service was well led. Staff, relatives and health professionals spoke highly of the registered manager. They all said they were open, approachable and honest. The registered manager was passionate about making people’s lives meaningful and different; this was reflected by all the staff we spoke to. During the inspection we noted that the registered manager always spoke with people when they past her or she past them.

Relatives spoke about their anxiety of potential changes in the management team; ¿which they felt could adversely affect people’s care and the service more generally. One relative ¿said, “I am concerned about the changes but [the registered manager] has not allowed that to impact on the home it is brilliant staff all seem positive.” Staff spoken to were mainly positive about the changes one staff member said, “We have had to accept some major changes. We don’t bring our anxieties to work, it is their home, not our work place and it would be unfair to cause them any anxiety.” The registered manager told us they felt the home had already been working towards some of the new approaches so it had not been too much of a change.

There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service, ensure staff kept up to date with good practice and to seek people’s views. Records showed the service responded to concerns and complaints and learnt from the issues raised. The provider learnt from issues raised at CQC inspections at other services in the organisation and shared them with the registered managers to ensure improvement was ongoing and cascaded through the organisation. The registered manager closely monitored the progress being made in the home with the adoption of the new working practices and kept staff informed.