Royal Avenue

Updated 26 March 2022

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of CQC’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic we are looking at how services manage infection control and visiting arrangements. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection prevention and control measures the provider had in place. We also asked the provider about any staffing pressures the service was experiencing and whether this was having an impact on the service.

This inspection took place on 3 February 2022 and was unannounced.

Updated 26 March 2022

About the service:

The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.

The service was a large home, bigger than most domestic style properties. It was registered for the support of up to 23 people. 23 people were using the service. This is larger than current best practice guidance. However. the size of the service having a negative impact on people was mitigated by the building design fitting into the residential area and the other large domestic homes of a similar size. There were deliberately no identifying signs, intercom, cameras, industrial bins or anything else outside to indicate it was a care home. Staff were also discouraged from wearing anything that suggested they were care staff when coming and going with people.

What life is like for people using this service:

People who live at Royal Avenue have their needs met by sufficient numbers of suitably trained staff. People told us staff were kind to them.

There were appropriate risk assessments in place to guide staff on how to reduce risks to people. These had been recently updated to a new format which was clearer for staff. There was sufficient information in people’s care plans about how risks should be mitigated to protect people from harm.

The service understood how to safeguard people using the service from the risk of abuse. Where required, there were specific plans in place for safeguarding people who accessed the community independently.

Medicines were monitored, managed and administered safely. The service was clean and plans were in place to limit the potential spread of infection.

Appropriate action was taken by the service in response to incidents and accidents to reduce the risk of recurrence.

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):

At the last inspection the service was rated Good (report published 1 November 2018).

Why we inspected:

We received concerns in relation to the management of people’s falls risk. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the Key Questions of Safe and Well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other Key Questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those Key Questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

The overall rating for the service has remained the same. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

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

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.