Seeleys House Short Breaks Centre

Updated 24 February 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.

This was a focused inspection to check whether the provider had met the requirements of the Warning Notices in relation to Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment) and Regulation 17 (Good governance) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 on concerns we had about the management of risk, record management and quality assurance.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an Expert by Experience made telephone calls to people and their relatives. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Seeleys House Short Breaks Centre is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Seeleys House Short Breaks Centre 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 sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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

During the inspection we spoke with 2 people. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We gained feedback from 5 relatives via telephone. We spoke with 9 staff members including operational team leaders, food and diet co-ordinator, social care assistants, the registered manager, operational co-ordinator and business support. We sent email questionnaires to the staff team and received 10 written responses. We reviewed 7 people’s care file records and a further 2 people’s medicines records and stock. We looked at the provider’s clinical audits and policies and procedures.

Updated 24 February 2023

About the service

Seeleys House Short Breaks Centre is a residential care home offering a respite care service for people with a learning disability and or physical disability. The service is registered to provide support to a maximum of 12 people. At the time of the inspection 4 people were staying overnight. Each person had their own room and access to communal toilet and bathroom facilities. There was access to an enclosed garden.

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.

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

People used their own communication system to show us and we understood from the actions or gestures that we saw from people they enjoyed staying at Seeleys House Short Breaks Centre. We observed lots of appropriate, professional interaction between staff and people. People were observed to be smiling, laughing and relaxed in the home.

Relatives described the staff as “excellent,” “approachable, caring, efficient, interested in who they are looking after,” “Professional and friendly”.

Right Support: The service gave people care and support in a safe, clean, well-equipped, well-furnished and well-maintained environment that met their sensory and physical needs. Staff supported people to make decisions following best practice in decision-making. Staff communicated with people in ways that met their needs. Staff supported people with their medicines in a way that promoted their independence and achieved the best possible health outcome.

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: Staff promoted equality and diversity in their support for people. They understood people’s cultural needs and provided culturally appropriate care. People received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to their 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. People who had individual ways of communicating, using body language, sounds, Makaton (a form of sign language), pictures and symbols 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 received good quality care, support and treatment because trained staff and specialists could meet their needs and wishes. People were supported by staff who understood best practice in relation to the wide range of strengths, impairments or sensitivities people with a learning disability and/or autistic people may have. This meant people received compassionate and empowering care that was tailored to their needs. Staff evaluated the quality of support provided to people, involving the person, their families and other professionals as appropriate.

The staff and management team worked hard to create an inclusive, supportive and caring environment for people. The service was providing personalised care which promoted independence in people. Staff told us they enjoyed working at the service. Comments included, “Everyone who works at Seeleys is so passionate about care and constantly looking for ways for us to improve our client’s overall experience” and "I love working at Seeleys, I like that we get the opportunity to get to know our clients and spend quality time with them, they get to choose what they would like to do with us on a weekend and we have fun." A third member of staff told us "I like the fact that we have a diverse team and that each individual staff member brings something different, and we all help each other out. Any issues are dealt with in a timely manner through staff meetings and are usually easily resolved."

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 29 July 2019 ) and there were breaches of regulation. 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.

Why we inspected

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Effective and Well-led which contain those requirements.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good based on the findings of this inspection.

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 Seeleys House Short Breaks Centre 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.