11 July 2022
During a routine inspection
About the service
Acorn Lodge - Surbiton is a residential care home providing personal care for those with mental health issues, learning disabilities or autism. The service can support up to ten people.
Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection three people were receiving personal care.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of right support, right care, right culture.
Right Support
People were kept safe from avoidable harm because staff knew them well and understood how to protect them from abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. People lived safely and free from unwarranted restrictions because the service assessed, monitored and managed safety well.
Staff followed effective processes to assess and provide the support people needed to take their medicines safely. This included where there were difficulties in communicating, when medicines were given covertly, and when assessing risks of people taking medicines themselves.
Staff could describe how their training and personal development related to the people they supported. For people that the service assessed as lacking mental capacity for certain decisions, staff clearly recorded assessments and any best interest decisions. People received support to eat and drink enough to maintain a balanced diet.
Right Care
People personalised their rooms and were included in decisions relating to the interior decoration and design of their home. Staff were patient and used appropriate styles of interaction with people.
Staff supported people to express their views using their preferred method of communication. Staff had the opportunity to try new experiences, develop new skills and gain independence. Preferences were identified and appropriate staff were available to support people. People, and those important to them, could raise concerns and complaints easily and staff supported them to do so.
Right culture
Management were visible in the service, approachable and took a genuine interest in what people, staff, family, advocates and other professionals had to say. The registered manager had the skills, knowledge and experience to perform their role and a clear understanding of people’s needs/ oversight of the services they managed. The provider engaged in local forums to work with other organisations to improve care and support for people using the service/ the wider system. Staff were committed to reviewing people’s care and support on an ongoing basis as people’s needs and wishes changed over time.
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.
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 29 November 2018.)
Why we inspected
We undertook this inspection to assess that the service is applying the principles of Right support right care right culture.
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.