Little Orchard

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture. At our last assessment we rated this key question requires improvement. At this assessment, the rating has changed to good. This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred care.

This service scored 71 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The service had a shared vision, strategy, and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities.

Processes were in place to promote equality and diversity for people and the staff team.

The registered manager told us, “We live and breathe our values, we want to make sure people are having fun. I try to encourage staff to step out of their comfort zone which will help staff learn new skills to support people. We have planned holidays for people this year and ensure everyone has equal opportunities.

The shared direction ensured each individual person was at the centre of their support when decisions about their lives were being made.

The service had inclusive leaders at all levels who mostly understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively.

A relative told us, “The registered manager sends a newsletter which has pictures and updates of our relative and what they have been doing. This has been really helpful as not all relatives are able to physically visit the home. It also keeps us updated with any staff changes.”

Staff members told us they had confidence in the skills and knowledge of the registered manager. They also told us the registered manager was visible on a daily basis and approachable.

People were enabled to live good, ordinary lives as part of their communities.

The service fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard.

People living in the services were asked for their views in a variety of formats throughout the year, these included meetings with their keyworkers, house meetings and through surveys. Action plans were devised from these meetings and were shared with people. This meant people’s views were listened to and drove improvement.

The service valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them. Staff felt supported to give feedback and were treated equally, free from bullying or harassment.

People with protected characteristics felt supported. A staff member told us, “I don’t think there is any discrimination, we have a diverse staff team working in the home.”

The provider had policies and resources available for staff to help protect them from discrimination.

Monitoring systems were in place to support the registered manager to monitor risk and quality in the team. These included audits in relation to – (list a few) and were mostly effective in identifying concerns and driving improvement. However, the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), Food Safety and Quality audits failed to identify the concerns we found within the environment and kitchen. We spoke to the provider about this, who told us they would ensure audits were completed correctly moving forward.

Staff and the management team understood the importance of reporting any changes to people’s wellbeing. They kept detailed records of the support people had received.

People received care and support in accordance with the principles of ‘Right care, right support, right culture’ guidance. People’s support plans, risk assessments and positive behavioural support (PBS) plans were regularly reviewed and updated.

The manager was able to confidently tell us how they ensured safe record keeping by following the principles of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The service understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for people. They shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement.

Relatives, staff, and the registered manager shared with us positive examples of collaborative working in partnership. These included numerous success stories where people had been supported to improve their health and increase their support hours.

The registered manager told us, “We have a CQC lead, and they discuss CQC reports from other services, we went through inadequate, requires improvement and outstanding reports and we learn from them and share this learning with our teams.”

The service strived to focus on continuous learning and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They actively contributed to safe and effective practice.

The registered manager shared with us an example of a person whose health was significantly declining. They shared an innovative idea to help improve this with family members and health professionals. It was discussed and agreed it would be in the person’s best interest. Following the action taken, the registered manager told us the persons health and quality of life has greatly improved.

The provider was highly motivated and responsive to our findings and acted immediately on key areas of improvement.