Phoenix House

Updated 5 January 2023

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

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

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Phoenix 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. Phoenix 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.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. The new manager had applied to become the registered manager of the service. We are currently assessing this application.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced. The inspection activity started on 30 September 2022 and ended on 26 October 2022. We visited the service on 30 September 2022.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with 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 used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We greeted everyone who lived at the service and 3 people showed us round their flats. We made observations of the service. We spoke with 4 members of staff including the manager, deputy manager and 2 support workers. We met with a member of the provider’s behavioural support and 3 visiting health and social care professionals. We reviewed a range of records about the running of the service including 3 people’s care plans and medicine administration records.

Updated 5 January 2023

About the service

Phoenix House is a care home providing personal care and support for people with a learning disability and autistic people. The care home is registered for 9 people. At the time of this inspection there were 6 people using the service. Each person lived in their own flat arranged around a courtyard garden with communal spaces.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

Right Support: The service was set up to enable people to be independent and have choice over how they lived their lives.

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, however, one person’s needs meant people did not get a full choice over how they used communal spaces. The provider was taken appropriate action to address this and safeguard people’s freedoms.

Right Care: The provider was working with health and social care professionals to ensure care was tailored to each person to improve their health, wellbeing and experiences. Staff respected people’s dignity and privacy.

Right Culture: The manager had begun to create a learning culture at the staff and create an environment where people were fully included in their care and live meaningful lives.

The provider was managing risks to people’s safety and ensured people received their medicines as prescribed. There were enough staff at the service to meet people’s needs.

Staff understood how to support people when they were distressed and steps were in place to reduce the use of physical restraint.

The manager had been in post for two months and had begun embedding improvements at the service to ensure people were supported to live meaningful lives of their choosing. The manager was undertaking a review of the culture at the service to ensure staff morale was high.

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 17 May 2019)

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to poor quality care delivery. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Phoenix House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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