Blyton Court

Updated 2 February 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 team consisted of one inspector. An Expert by Experience undertook telephone calls to relatives following the site visit. 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

Blyton Court 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. Blyton Court provides nursing care as part of their registration. 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 a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced.

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small, and people are often out, and we wanted to be sure there would be people at home to speak with us.

What we did before the 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

During the inspection we spoke with 2 people who used the service and 8 relatives by telephone following the site visit. We spoke with, the cook and a kitchen assistant, a registered nurse and care staff. We also spoke with the registered manager. We reviewed a number of documents associated with people’s care needs, this included medicine administration records and 3 care plans. We also reviewed documents associated with the running of the service, this included quality monitoring records, policies, environmental risk assessments and cleaning schedules.

Updated 2 February 2023

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

Blyton Court is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to 15 people at the time of the inspection. The service supports people living with learning disabilities, autism and physical disabilities. The service can support up to 18 people.

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

Right Support

People were supported to engage in social and meaningful activities of their choice. Staff promoted people's independence as much as possible. People received were supported with medicines safely. Support plans, risks, health and wellbeing, was consistently monitored and reviewed.

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

People were protected from poor care and abuse. There was information on display about safeguarding and whistleblowing. People were treated with dignity and respect by staff who knew their care needs.

Right Culture

The service promoted improvement or acted on people and their relatives' views through the support of people's key workers and good communication strategies. Relatives felt confident to approach the provider with any concerns and were positive about the communication they received. The registered manager worked hard to improve and then sustain good quality care for people at the service through the provider's quality monitoring processes.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published24 April 2022) and there were breaches of regulations. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We undertook this focused inspection to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last comprehensive inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good based on the findings of this inspection.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk as the provider had worked to make the necessary improvements to people’s care to ensure their safety. Please see the Safe, Responsive 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 Blyton Court 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.