14 July 2023
During a routine inspection
The Firefly Club is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care to up to 8 people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. The service also provides a domiciliary care service to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 6 people living in the residential care home and 4 people using the domiciliary care service.
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.
Improvements had been made following our last inspection. Staff understood people’s risks and the support they needed to remain safe. Records did not always provide staff with comprehensive guidance in relation to all the risk associated with people’s care. Some records relating to the management of the service were also not sufficiently comprehensive. The provider’s internal monitoring processes did not always identify these shortfalls and the provider was working at strengthening the effectiveness of their audits. We have made a recommendation in relation to people’s finance records.
Right Support: People’s care planning documentation was personalised and reflected their strengths and needs. The registered manager promoted a positive risk-taking, person-centred culture which had been embraced by the staff team. There was a positive culture of reviewing and reducing restrictions placed on people to keep them safe to support people to have maximum choice and control of their lives. The registered manager had made appropriate DoLS applications and had effective systems in place to renew and meet any conditions of authorised applications. 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: People told us they were happy. People appeared comfortable with staff and knew them. People were offered choices and various activities. People were spoken to respectfully, patiently and provided time to process and respond to information. People’s care planning documentation promoted independence, dignity and privacy.
Right Culture: Since the last inspection the provider had made changes which had improved the environment. People were being supported to choose items for their home and ideas and suggestions were continuously being sought from people, relatives and staff. The registered manager and staff team were supporting people to identify new activities and experiences.
People and staff told us there were enough staff. Our observations during the inspection confirmed this. Since the last inspection training had been prioritised by the provider. The registered manager had effective systems in place to monitor staff training. Staff told us they felt supported by the registered manager and the provider and were able to make suggestions and provide feedback to improve the service. The registered manager and provider were passionate about supporting best outcomes for people and improving people’s quality of life and had plans to continue to improve the service for people.
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 inadequate (published 30 January 2023) and there were 7 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 some improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of 6 of the regulations. However, we found the provider remained in breach of regulation regarding governance.
This service has been in Special Measures since 30 January 2023. During this inspection the provider demonstrated that improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.
Why we inspected
This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last 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.
Enforcement and Recommendations
We have identified a breach in relation to good governance at this inspection. We have made a recommendation in relation to financial records.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
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 continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.