The Cottage

The cottage is a 4-bedroom care home, providing support and personal care for 2 people. It is in a semi-rural location and set within a shared courtyard with a large private garden. Each person living in the home has their own bedroom and share a communal lounge and kitchen area. The other 2 rooms within the home were used for the staff carrying out sleep in duties and an office.

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.

Right support: People were supported in a kind and respectful way by their staff team. People or their advocate were involved in their care planning and people were supported to engage in activities to promote independence and prevent social isolation. Activities were tailored and adapted in line with people’s assessed needs.

Care plans were reflective of people’s needs and contained personalised information. Risk assessments were in place to ensure people were supported safely and any risk mitigated.

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

Right Care: Staff promoted equality and diversity in their support for people. Care was person centred. Staff knew the people they supported well and promoted independency were possible. The service had a consistent staff team with appropriately skilled staff to meet the needs of people and keep them safe.

Right Culture: All staff including the management team were aware of people’s wishes, needs and support and ensured they were central to support provided. The service was always looking for new ways to improve the support they provided. New activities and social interactions were introduced at a steady pace to ensure people were planned and prepared for any changes.

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

The service registered with CQC on 02 April 2015. The last rating for this service was good (01 June 2016).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

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.

We made a recommendation the provider reviews all MCA records to ensure all decisions are clearly evidenced.

Follow up

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

This was the first inspection of The Cottage by the Care Quality Commission since the service was registered in April 2015.

The Cottage provides both accommodation and personal care for two adults with autistic spectrum disorder needs. The registered provider is Bright Futures Care Limited. At the time of our inspection the service was accommodating two people.

The Cottage is a four-bedroom detached bungalow situated in a semi-rural location set within a shared court yard with a private garden. Each service user has their own bedroom with en-suite facilities and shared communal lounges and kitchen areas. Two of the bedrooms were used by staff that provide sleep in support.

At the time of the inspection there was a registered manager at The Cottage. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The registered manager was present during the day of our inspection and engaged positively in the inspection process, together with support workers on duty.

The home had a warm and friendly atmosphere and people using the service were observed to be comfortable and relaxed in their home environment and in the presence of support workers. Support workers were attentive to the needs of the people they cared for and demonstrated a good understanding of people’s diverse and complex needs, support requirements and preferences.

The provider had established a programme of induction, mandatory and service specific training for staff to access, to ensure people using the service were supported by competent staff. Additional systems of support such as supervision, appraisals and team meetings were also in place.

Robust recruitment policies and procedures were in place to ensure prospective employees were suitable to work with vulnerable people and all required documentation was in place. This confirmed the provider had all the required information to hand before employing and appointing staff.

People using the service had access to a range of person centred activities and a choice of

wholesome and nutritious meals. Records showed that people also had access to GPs and other health care professionals (subject to individual need) and medicines were managed safely.

The needs of people using the service and potential and actual risks had been assessed and planned for to ensure they received appropriate person centred care and support.

Policies and procedures relating to the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards had been developed to provide guidance to staff on this protective legislation. Although none of the people living at The Cottage were subject to a DoLS at the time of our inspection, the registered manager and support workers understood their duty of care in respect of these safeguards.

Systems were in place to seek feedback on the quality of care provided, safeguard people from abuse and to respond to concerns and complaints.