Mid Meadows

Updated 18 October 2019

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an assistant inspector.

Service and service type

Mid Meadows is a care home which is registered to provide accommodation and personal care for up to 22 older people who may have a physical disability and or not associated learning difficulties. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced and took place on 5 August 2019

What we did:

Before the inspection, we reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included details about incidents the provider must let us know about, such as abuse; and we sought feedback from the local authority and other professionals involved with the service. The registered manager completed a Provider Information Return. Providers are required to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During our inspection visit, we spoke with four people using the service, three staff, the registered manager, operations manager and regional manager. No relatives visited the service on the day of inspection but had contributed comments to the service quality monitoring questionnaires. We observed the support provided throughout the service. We looked at records in relation to people who used the service including four care plans and medication records. We looked at four records relating to recruitment, training and systems for monitoring quality.

Updated 18 October 2019

About the service:

Mid Meadows is a care home owned by the provider Black Swan International. It provides accommodation and personal care and support for up to 22 people who may have a physical disability and or not associated learning difficulties. Nursing care is not provided at Mid Meadows. There were 22 people living in the service when we carried out an unannounced inspection on 05 August 2019

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 outcomes for people living at Mid Meadows reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support in the following ways; promotion of choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent. People were at the heart of the service and staff's approach, where constant motivation enabled people to gain in confidence, self-worth and self-determination. People were positive about their future, they had gained new skills, independence and were supported to achieve personal goals and aspirations.

People’s experience of using this service:

People were supported to lead active and fulfilling lives. People told us the approach of staff made them feel safe, valued and life was happy and had a meaningful purpose.

People were protected from avoidable harm and abuse, there was a positive approach to risk taking and people were fully involved in decisions about how known risks were managed. This had resulted in people achieving significant outcomes, people had developed in confidence that enabled them to take control of their own safety. People were enabled to be active citizens of their community without restrictions.

Staff had a positive enabling approach to support people in their journey of recovery with any mental health needs. The person-centred and motivational approach at Mid Meadows, provided structure and purpose to people and had contributed in people achieving personal goals they had set.

People received support from staff who were well trained and supported, to provide safe and effective care. Staff skill mix, personality and interests were considered when matching staff to support people with activities of their choice. People were involved in the recruitment of staff and checks were completed on staff's suitability to provide care.

People received their prescribed medicines safely and were supported to access health care services to maintain their healthcare needs. Healthy eating was encouraged, and people were fully involved in menu planning, shopping and sometimes the preparation of meals. Independence was promoted in all aspects of care and daily living. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Staff were caring and compassionate and had developed a good understanding of people's diverse needs, routines and what was important to them. From speaking with staff, it was clear they were passionate about their work and wanted the very best for people they supported. Information had been made available for people that met their communication needs.

Positive partnerships had been developed with external health and social care professionals. People benefited from good multi-disciplinary working.

A range of regular checks had been completed to review the quality and safety of the care and support provided. Where improvements were identified, action plans were developed to continuously develop and improve the service and enhance people's life. People, relatives, external professionals and staff, received opportunities to share their experience of the service and this helped drive improvements forward.

The service continued to meet the characteristics of outstanding in Safe; more information is in the full report.

Rating at last inspection: The last rating for this service was Good (Report published 15th February 2017). At this inspection, the overall rating has remained Good

Why we inspected: This was a scheduled comprehensive inspection based on the previous rating.

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

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk