Huntley

Updated 12 January 2019

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

The inspection was a comprehensive inspection which took place on 19 November 2018 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours' notice of the inspection visit because the location was a small care home for adults who are often out during the day. We needed to be sure that they would be available to talk with us.

The inspection was carried out by one inspector. We spoke to the registered manager, three members of staff, three relatives and two people who live at the home. We completed observations in communal areas, due to the nature of people's needs, we were not able to ask people direct questions, but we did observe people as they engaged with their day-to-day tasks and activities. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We pathway tracked the care of four people. Pathway tracking is where we check that the care detailed in individual plans matches the experience of the person receiving care. We reviewed records including; accident and incident logs, quality assurance records, compliments and complaints, policies and procedures and two records relating to staffing.

Before the inspection, we reviewed information relating to the home including correspondence from people, professionals, and notifications sent to us by the registered manager. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to tell us about by law. We also used information the provider sent to us in the Provider Information Return (PIR). This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

After the inspection we spoke with a social care professional to gain their views of the service.

Updated 12 January 2019

Huntley is a residential care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. The home is registered for up to 11 people living with a learning disability, complex needs and autism.

At this inspection on 19 November 2018, there were seven people living at the home. There were both men and women living at the home and people had lived at the home for many years. Accommodation is provided over two floors and people have their own rooms and share communal bathrooms, one person had a room with an en-suite. People had access to a large communal lounge, sensory room and garden.

The home had a registered manager. 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 care service has been developed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen. The principles of Registering the Right Support were fully embedded within staff practice and the ethos of the home. People were active members of their local community and staff were proactive in supporting people to make choices which enabled their independence.

At our last inspection we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of Good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

People received an extremely responsive service where staff went above and beyond to ensure people's needs, wishes and aspirations were at the forefront of everything they did. Care was extremely personalised to meet the needs of individuals. People were at the centre of care planning and fully involved in the process. Staff were exceptionally responsive to people's individual's needs and allowed them to live their lives how they wanted. One relative told us, “she gets the most from life and as a parent I could not be happier, it is such a weight off my mind knowing she is in a home where she is able to be her”.

People had access to an extensive and wide variety of activities. Staff identified that activities were an integral part of people's lives and were led by people's choices. People received compassionate and dignified end of life care that respected their wishes. People were proactively supported to maintain relationships with people who were important to them. Staff went above and beyond to understand people’s family relationships and promoted people’s right to maintain and develop these.

People remained safe. A relative told us, “My daughter is totally safe living at Huntley. I know this because there are always staff around day and night and it is very secure. I have no concerns about her safety.” Staff continued to have a good understanding of safeguarding and there were systems and process in place to keep people safe. Medicines management continued to be safe. Staff who administer medicines were trained and had regular competency checks. Lessons were learned when things went wrong and accidents and incidents continued to be managed safely.

People's needs continued to be assessed prior to people moving into the home and regularly thereafter. People could make day to day choices and staff adapted their approach to enable this. A relative told us, “The care is always focussed around what she wants, they never make her do anything she does not want to do. She has full choice over daily decisions.” People were supported to have a balanced diet and had access to healthcare professionals as and when they needed them.

People continued to receive kind and compassionate care. One relative told us, “We are over the moon with the kind and compassionate care our daughter receives.” People's privacy and dignity were respected and maintained. People and their relatives, where appropriate, continued to be involved in decisions about their care and were given support to express their views. A relative told us, “I am full involved in decisions about his care and listened to, they make sure they involve him too and always give him choices.”

The home continued to be well-led. A relative told us, "The service is very well managed, the manager or deputy are always available to talk to me. You can tell how well it is managed through the excellent attitude of the staff.” The culture of the home remained positive and enabled people to live how they wanted to. People, staff and relatives remained engaged and involved in the service provided. Daily feedback was sought through people's engagement with staff, key worker meetings and care reviews.