22 July 2021
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Heathcotes Flanshaw is a care home providing accommodation for up to six people. The service specialises in supporting younger adults with a learning disability and autistic spectrum disorder. At the time of the inspection five people were living in the home.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found.
We saw people were safeguarded from abuse and any risks associated with people’s care were managed well, and without being overly restrictive. Those we spoke with told us they felt people were safe and we saw people were happy and relaxed with the staff. People’s needs were met by staff who were recruited, trained and deployed effectively. People were protected from the risk and spread of infection and people’s medicines were managed safely.
It was clear there was strong and thoughtful leadership, with an emphasis on treating people as adults and empowering them. There was also an emphasis on listening, reflecting and learning lessons to improve the service overall, and people's quality of life.
There were effective systems of governance, monitoring and review of the quality and safety of the service. People’s feedback was sought and acted upon in positive ways, and there was an emphasis on ensuring the service was person centred. People were supported to have access to other health and social care services.
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 statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.
This service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.
Right support:
The setting is community based, and people were able to access their local community, nearby shops and services.
Care and support was person-centred and promoted people’s dignity, privacy and human rights. People were supported in the least restrictive way and education and learning was promoted.
The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensured people using the service were leading confident, inclusive and empowered lives. One person’s relative said, “[Person] is empowered and given opportunities to do as many different things as possible.”
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 August 2019).
Why we inspected
We received information of concern in relation to the service. These included concerns about the management of risk, people’s safety, staff culture and governance. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. 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 not changed. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Heathcotes Flanshaw on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
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.