Olive House

Updated 22 July 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

Olive House 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. Olive House is a care home without nursing 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. A registered manager 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

We gave the service notice of the inspection. This was because we wanted to be sure the registered manager and the person living in the home would be available.

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 person living at Olive House. We spent time observing staff interacting with this person and supporting them. We spoke with two staff and the registered manager.

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

After the inspection

We spoke to a relative of the person using the service and a relevant health and social care professional on the telephone. We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.

Updated 22 July 2022

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.

About the service

Olive House 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 one person in one house.

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

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.

Right support:

Staff supported people to follow their individual 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. Medicines were managed safely and staff supported people to access health services and maintain their health.

Staff supported people to follow their individual interests and to develop their independence. The service provided a clear and positive ethos to guide staff in how to support people to maximise their choices and independence. People had support to follow their own chosen lifestyles. Staff supported them with their personal care needs and their independence.

Staff were trained to meet the needs of the people they were supporting with one exception; they had not been provided with training to better understand a person’s health condition.

Staff were aware of people’s individual personalities and preferences. People were encouraged and supported to be involved in meaningful activities.

Right care:

A person’s relative was satisfied that Olive House provided good care and a stable home for their relative. When a person told us about their daily routines and wishes, it was evident that people received good care and support to lead a fulfilling life. People were not consistently supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives as staff did not support them in the least restrictive way possible in one aspect of their care. There was a restriction in place which the person had previously agreed to but told us they no longer wished the restriction to be in place.

There was a strong commitment to delivering person-centred care and staff respected individuality. Staff had good knowledge of people’s individual communication needs and treated people with kindness and respect while providing care.

Right culture:

Staff formed relationships with people they supported and the environment of the home fully reflected the personality and interests of the person living there. People’s families were involved in their care and support and 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 an open culture in the service where staff enjoyed working and relatives felt involved.

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 04/10/2017).

Why we inspected

We inspected this service as it had been five 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 Olive House 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 two recommendations. One is that staff receive training on understanding a health condition relevant to the person they support. We made another recommendation that the provider follows the process to review any restrictions in place for people in line with good practice.

Follow up

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