Devonshire Road

Updated 9 September 2022

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Devonshire Road is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Devonshire Road is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we held about the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We met the five people living at Devonshire road. We talked with four people. We spent time observing staff interacting with people during a mealtime, activity and the daily routine. We met with two support workers, two senior support workers, the operations director for the company and the registered manager.

We reviewed a range of records. This included risk assessments, support plans, care records, medicines records, staff files and quality assurance records.

We spoke to three relatives of people using the service and a relevant health and social care professional. We sought clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.

Updated 9 September 2022

About the service

Devonshire Road is a care home providing accommodation and personal care to people with a learning disability and autistic people. This service is registered to provide care and support to five people in an ordinary house.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and 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 and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Based on our review of key questions Safe, Effective, Responsive and Well-led, the service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting some of the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture. However, the registered manager was not familiar with the ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance. We have recommended that this guidance is implemented in the home.

Right support:

Staff supported people to follow their interests and to develop their independence. There was clear guidance for staff for how to support people with risks to their health, safety and wellbeing.

The service worked well with health and care professionals to meet people’s care needs. Staff supported people to access health services and advocated for them when they were unwell. Staff supported them with their personal care needs and their daily routines.

Staff were trained to meet the needs of the people they were supporting. Staff were aware of people’s individual personalities and preferences. People were encouraged and supported to be involved in meaningful activities.

Right care:

People, and their relatives, told us they received good care and support to lead a happy life. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible while still protecting their safety.

Staff had good knowledge of people’s individual communication needs and treated people with kindness and compassion.

Right culture:

Staff had formed close relationships with people they supported. People benefitted from a stable enthusiastic staff team who were committed to providing them with the best care.

The provider had a quality assurance system in place to check that the service was running safely and meeting people’s needs. The registered manager was committed to continuous learning. There was a family style culture in the service where staff enjoyed working and people felt secure and supported.

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 14/04/2018).

Why we inspected

We inspected this service as it had been four years since the last inspection. This was a focused inspection looking at the key questions safe, effective, responsive and well-led. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has remained good. 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 Devonshire Road on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.

Recommendations

We have made three recommendations. These are to improve the management oversight of medicines, management of people’s hydration needs and to implement Right support, right care, right culture guidance.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.