About the service Brickbridge house is a residential care home providing personal care to six people at the time of the inspection. The service is registered to support seven people across two adapted buildings.
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.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The Secretary of State has asked the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to conduct a thematic review and to make recommendations about the use of restrictive interventions in settings that provide care for people with or who might have mental health problems, learning disabilities and/or autism. Thematic reviews look in-depth at specific issues concerning quality of care across the health and social care sectors. They expand our understanding of both good and poor practice and of the potential drivers of improvement.
As part of thematic review, we carried out a survey with the registered manager at this inspection. This considered whether the service used any restrictive intervention practices (restraint, seclusion and segregation) when supporting people.
The service used some restrictive intervention practices as a last resort, in a person-centred way, in line with positive behaviour support principles.
People could be assured they received their medicines as prescribed. We have made a recommendation about covert medication. Systems were in place to keep people safe from the risk of potential abuse. Risks were assessed and planned for and staff were safely recruited. People were protected from the risk of potential cross infection and lessons were learned when things had gone wrong.
People had their needs assessed and guidance was in place for staff to follow where people had specific health needs. Staff received training to support people effectively and worked with other agencies to provide consistent care. People were supported to eat and drink enough and had access to healthcare services when necessary.
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 were treated well by caring staff and were able to express their views and be involved in making decisions about their care. People had their privacy respected and independence promoted.
People received personalised care, responsive to their needs by staff who knew them well and were supported to follow interests and take part in activities that were socially relevant to them. The service was meeting people’s communication needs and people felt able to complain should they wish to.
The service was person-centred and engaged people, considering their equality characteristics. The registered manager was aware of their duty of candour and staff were clear about their roles. The provider offered staff the opportunity to progress in their roles and the registered manager worked in partnership with others.
The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence.
The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting 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.
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 25 March 2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
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.