Beaconsfield Road

About the service

Beaconsfield Road is a residential care home providing personal care to 4 at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 4 people. The service worked with people living with a learning disability and/or autistic spectrum disorder. The home is a large, detached house in a residential area of Enfield, North London. Each person had their own room and there was a large well-kept back garden.

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

Right Support:

Staff supported people to have the maximum possible choice, control and independence be independent and they had control over their own lives. Staff focused on people’s strengths and promoted what they could do, so people had a fulfilling and meaningful everyday life. Staff supported people to achieve their aspirations and goals. The service gave people care and support in a safe, clean, well equipped, well-furnished and well-maintained environment that met their sensory and physical needs. People had a choice about their living environment and were able to personalise their rooms. Staff enabled people to access specialist health and social care support in the community. Staff supported people with their medicines in a way that promoted their independence and achieved the best possible health outcome. 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:

Staff promoted equality and diversity in their support for people. They understood people’s cultural needs and provided culturally appropriate care. People received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to their individual needs. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. Staff understood people’s individual communication needs. People’s care, treatment and support plans reflected their range of needs and this promoted their wellbeing and enjoyment of life.

Right Culture:

People received good quality care, support and treatment because trained staff and specialists could meet their needs and wishes. Staff knew and understood people well and were responsive, supporting their aspirations to live a quality life of their choosing. People and those important to them, including advocates, were involved in planning their care. Staff evaluated the quality of support provided to people, involving the person, their families and other professionals as appropriate. Staff ensured risks of a closed culture were minimised so that people received support based on transparency, respect and inclusivity.

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 18 April 2020).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

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.

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

Follow up

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

We found the following examples of good practice.

The staff worked with people to help them understand the pandemic and how they could keep themselves safe. The registered manager told us people had initially found staff wearing masks distressing and would try and take them off the staff. Staff used storyboards and constant reassurance to explain the COVID-19 pandemic, use of masks and the importance of hand washing. The registered manger told us people now wore their masks without prompting and would signal to wash their hands or use hand sanitiser.

People were supported by staff to access the community in a safe way and often used the local park. People were starting to go back to college and visit relatives. The home recognised the importance of people having family and friends visit them and this was supported in a safe way. Clear guidance was provided to visitors on arrival. There were posters explaining how the service would keep people safe at the entrance of the home. The home was large enough to allow visitors space to ensure social distancing and visitors were screened for symptoms of COVID-19 before entering the home.

Where healthcare professionals visited, they were also screened for symptoms of COVID-19 and their most recent COVID-19 test results checked in line with government guidance.

People had individual risk assessments around COVID-19 to ensure staff understood people’s personal risks and how to keep them safe. These were reviewed regularly.

Staff were part of the routine COVID-19 testing programme. We observed staff using appropriate PPE in line with government guidance.

Staff had received training around infection control, COVID-19 and using PPE correctly. The registered manger and organisation had supported staff through the pandemic, ensuring changes in guidance were effectively communicated using daily handovers and staff meetings.

There were robust cleaning processes in place to minimise the risk of transmission. Touch points such as door handles were cleaned regularly. At the time of the inspection the home, including people’s bedrooms, was clean and smelled fresh.