Royal Mencap Society - 32 Kings Lane

We found the following examples of good practice.

• There was a robust visitor management procedure in place to ensure people living at the service were kept safe.

• Staff enabled people to take part in visits out of the care home and implemented appropriate COVID-19 testing regimes to ensure people’s safety.

• Staff had access to plentiful supplies of personal protective equipment, and all had received training in its use.

• The home was clean and fresh and daily schedules were in place to ensure hygiene and cleanliness levels were maintained by staff.

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 guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability or autistic people

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

The service could show how they met principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

People lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives because of the ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of the management and staff.

The needs and quality of life of people formed the basis of the culture at the service. Staff understood their role in making sure that people were always put first. They provided care that was genuinely person centred.

The leadership of the service had worked hard to create a learning culture. Staff felt valued and empowered to suggest improvements and question poor practice. There was a transparent and open and honest culture between people, those important to them, staff and leaders. They all felt confident to raise concerns and complaints.

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.¿

People’s care and support was provided in a safe, clean, well equipped, well-furnished and well-maintained environment which met people's sensory and physical needs.

People were protected from abuse and poor care. The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe.

People were supported to be independent and had control over their own lives. Their human rights were upheld.

People received kind and compassionate care from staff who protected and respected their privacy and dignity and understood each person’s individual needs. People had their communication needs met and information was shared in a way that could be understood.

People’s risks were assessed regularly in a person-centred way, people had opportunities for positive risk taking. People were involved in managing their own risks whenever possible.

People made choices and took part in meaningful activities which were part of their planned care and support. Staff supported them to achieve their aspirations and goals.

People’s care, treatment and support plans, reflected their sensory, cognitive and functioning needs.

People received support that met their needs and aspirations. Support focused on people’s quality of life and followed best practice. Staff regularly evaluated the quality of support given, involving the person, their families and other professionals as appropriate.

People received care, support and treatment from trained staff and specialists able to meet their needs and wishes. The provider ensured that staff had relevant training, regular supervision and appraisal.

People and those important to them, including advocates, were actively involved in planning their care. Where needed a multidisciplinary team worked well together to provide the planned care.

Staff understood their roles and responsibilities under the Human Rights Act 1998, Equality Act 2010, Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

People were supported by staff who understood best practice in relation to learning disability and/or autism. Governance systems ensured people were kept safe and received a high quality of care and support in line with their personal needs.

People and those important to them, worked with leaders to develop and improve the service.

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection to provide assurance that the service is applying the principles of Right support right care right culture.

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.

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.

We inspected the service on 1 December 2017. The inspection was unannounced.

Royal Mencap Society – 32 Kings Lane is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Royal Mencap Society – 32 Kings Lane provides care and support for up to eight people with physical and learning disabilities. Nursing care is not provided. The care service has been developed and designed in line with values that underpin the Registering Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

At the last inspection on 22 October 2015, the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found the service remained good.

The service has a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Staff demonstrated a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). People are supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff support them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice

People were assisted by staff in a way that supported their safety and that they were treated respectfully. People had health care and support plans in place to ensure their needs were being met. Risks to people were identified and plans were put into place to enable people to live as safely and independently as possible.

There were sufficient numbers of safely recruited staff available to meet people’s care and support needs. Medication was safely stored and administered to people.

There was a friendly, relaxed atmosphere and staff were kind and attentive in their approach. People were provided with food and drink that met their individual needs and preferences.

Staff were trained to provide effective care which met people’s individual needs. The standard of staff members’ work performance was reviewed by the registered manager through supervisions, spot checks and appraisals.

The registered manager sought feedback about the quality of the service provided from people and/or their relatives, staff and visiting health professionals. There was an on-going quality monitoring process in place to identify areas of improvement required within the service. Where improvements had been identified, actions were taken. Learning from incidents were discussed at staff meetings to reduce the risk of recurrence.

Records showed that the CQC was informed of incidents that the provider was legally obliged to notify us of.

Further information is in the detailed findings below

We found that care records were current and reflected the needs of people who lived in the home. Staff demonstrated a good understanding and knowledge of the care and support people required.

A safeguarding policy for vulnerable adults was in place and staff had undertaken safeguarding training. Information was available for people who lived in the home, their families and staff informing them of how to safeguard people from abuse and raise a concern.

There was a recruitment procedure in place to ensure that only people suitable to work with vulnerable people were employed. Staff received a wide range of training to equip them for their role.

There were regular on-going training sessions in place to ensure that staff safely delivered care and support to people.

There was an effective system in place to deal with any complaints people who lived in the home or their relatives might raise.