Archived: Upfield

Upfield is a small residential care home providing accommodation and personal care support to up to six people living with learning disabilities and/or autism. At the time of the inspection six people lived in the home.

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

People and their relatives told us they felt safe in the home and could live the lives they wanted and enjoyed. There were enough well-trained and competent staff to support people in a flexible way meeting their needs.

People were valued and seen as individuals and their support was tailored to what they could and wanted to do, with positive risk taking being enabled and appropriate support in place when they found themselves in difficult-to-manage by themselves situations. People and their relatives told us staff were nice, caring and intuitive.

People received safe support to stay healthy. This included help to take their medicines, to access healthcare services when needed and to maintain a healthy, balanced diet.

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.

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.

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

Right support:

Model of care and setting maximised people’s choice, control and independence;

People were supported to do what they wanted and to live the lifestyle which met their preferences and supported their independence and learning new skills. They were also consulted and involved in who they lived with, how their home looked and how it was maintained and organised. Where people had moved into the home, they had had an opportunity to meet everyone and see if they liked it as part of the preparation.

Right care:

Care was person-centred and promoted people’s dignity, privacy and human rights;

People received personalised support which addressed their individual needs and risks respecting their unique personalities, wishes, preferences and interests. Staff supported people in a way which was seamless and gave control to people over how their day went. Staff respected people’s independence, privacy and dignity and involved them in their support.

Right culture:

Ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensured people using services led confident, inclusive and empowered lives;

People were supported to develop their skills, to manage their challenges and to enjoy what they liked doing. The atmosphere in the home was friendly, fun and homely and created by people living there. This was also recognised by people’s relatives who told us people felt at home. The management team and staff understood well who people were and what support they needed. When they spoke about people, they did that in a caring, appreciative and animated way.

The management team had good oversight of the quality and safety of the home environment and support provided and told us they were well supported by the provider. The managers continuously improved the home and listened to people, their relatives and staff when making changes. They were praised for their leadership and staff told us they worked well as a team.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 9 May 2019 and this is the first inspection. The last rating for the service under the previous provider was good, published on 8 August 2017.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection following the changes in registration.

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. This included checking the provider was meeting COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

Follow up

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