Alison House

Alison House is a residential care home which is registered for accommodation for people requiring personal or nursing care as well as the treatment of disease, disorder or injury. The service provides therapeutic psychological support and can accommodate up to 4 children and young people. At the time of our inspection there were 4 young people using the service.

Ofsted are the lead regulator for services registered as children’s homes. However, the service was not registered with Ofsted at the time of our inspection.

There was not a consistent approach to therapeutic intervention when young people attempted self-injury and the ‘Managing Self-Harm Policy’ had not been reviewed in line with best practice guidance.

The provider had not taken all reasonable steps to ensure a consistent approach to risk management as young people’s risks had not always been clearly assessed and monitored.

Safeguarding concerns and incidents had been managed inconsistently. Although there was some evidence that safeguarding had been reported and investigated appropriately, this process had not always been consistently operated.

We could not be assured that staff had received appropriate levels of safeguarding training.

Comprehensive mental capacity assessments had not always been undertaken on occasions when needed. There was a lack of consistency around how consent and capacity had been sought, reviewed and documented.

The provider had not operated effective systems to assure themselves of the safety and quality of the services provided at Alison House. Roles and responsibilities of members of the senior management team had not yet been clearly defined.

The use of restraint had been kept to a minimum and strategies had often been used to ensure any intervention used was the least restrictive of people’s basic human rights and freedoms.

Young people had been supported to access a range of community activities and pursue their own interests.

Staff we spoke with were committed to treating young people with compassion, kindness and respect.

Despite the concerns we identified on inspection, the provider was committed to providing high quality care to young people. They responded during and after the inspection to create a quality improvement plan.

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 20 May 2021, and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the service being newly registered.

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.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, safeguarding, consent to care and good governance at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.