Flat A 291 Harrow Road

Updated 3 March 2022

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of CQC’s response to care homes with outbreaks of COVID-19, we are conducting reviews to ensure that the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) practice is safe and that services are compliant with IPC measures. This was a targeted inspection looking at the IPC practices the provider has in place. We also asked the provider about any staffing pressures the service was experiencing and whether this was having an impact on the service.

This inspection took place on 8 February 2022 and was announced. We gave the service 24 hours notice of the inspection.

Updated 3 March 2022

About the service

Flat A, 291 Harrow Road provides accommodation and support to up to four people with a learning disability. The building is a four bedroom level access flat with a shared open plan lounge/dining area and separate kitchen. There were four people living at the service on the day we carried out our site visit.

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 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

People were protected from avoidable harm. People's relatives told us their family members were safe and well cared for and that staff did "a wonderful job." People were protected from abuse as staff were aware of their responsibility to report any safeguarding concerns.

Staff and professionals provided positive feedback about the management of the service and about standards of care. Staff members told us that team morale had improved under the current acting manager, whom they described as "supportive", "calm", "easy to approach" and "a good communicator."

People were protected from the transmission of infectious diseases including COVID-19 and the service was complying with government policy for safety within care home settings.

There were systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service. When areas of improvement were identified, actions were taken to address them.

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 good (published 27 March 2020). At this inspection, the overall rating for this service has not changed and remains good.

Why we inspected

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has introduced focused/targeted inspections to check specific concerns. We used the targeted inspection approach to look at infection prevention and control measures under the safe key question. We look at this during all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively. As we only looked at part of this key question, we cannot change its rating from the previous inspection. Therefore, the rating for this key question will remain good.

We undertook a focused inspection approach to review the key question, is the service well-led? This was because we had specific concerns in relation to how the service was managed and the impact of this on people using the service and staff. As no concerns were identified in relation to the key questions, is the service effective, caring and responsive? we did not inspect them on this occasion. Ratings from the previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection, which remains good.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Flat A, 291 Harrow Road on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.