Avenida Lodge

Updated 10 February 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by 1 inspector and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 9 January 2023 and ended on 16 January 2023. We visited the location’s office on 9 January 2023, Mayfield Court on 10 January 2023 and Acorn House on 12 January 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 4 people and 5 people’s relatives about the care and support provided. We spoke to 9 members of staff including the registered manager, deputy manager, shift leaders and support staff. We reviewed 4 people’s support plans and multiple documents relating to people’s care including medicine records. We received feedback from 3 health and social care professionals. We reviewed multiple documents relating to quality assurance and feedback from others.

Updated 10 February 2023

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. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and/or who are autistic.

About the service

Avenida Lodge is part of Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and provides support for adults who live in their own homes in Eastbourne. Registered as a domiciliary care agency under Adult Social Care, it is inspected separately from the Trust, and supports people with autism, learning disabilities and mental health needs. At the time of inspection, the service was supporting 13 people. People using the service lived in their own homes across two blocks of flats, Acorn House and Mayfield Court.

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

Right Support:

People received support to achieve their aspirations and goals. The service worked with people to plan for when they experienced periods of distress so their freedoms were restricted only if there was no alternative. Staff recorded when people were restrained and constantly reviewed and learned from incidents and how they might be avoided or reduced. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Right 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. People’s care, treatment and support plans reflected their range of needs and this promoted their wellbeing and enjoyment of life.

Right Culture:

People were supported by staff who understood best practice in relation to the wide range of strengths, impairments or sensitivities people with a learning disability and/or autistic people may have. This meant people received compassionate and empowering care that was tailored to their needs. The registered manager worked hard to instil a culture of care in which staff truly valued and promoted people’s individuality, protected their rights and empowered people. People and those important to them were involved in planning their care. Staff evaluated the quality of support provided to people with the person, their family and other professionals.

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 13 December 2017).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. We undertook a focused inspection on the safe and well led key questions. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has remained good based on the findings of this inspection.

Follow up

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