We carried out a review of the data available to us about Fairlawn on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Fairlawn, you can give feedback on this service.
Fairlawn is a residential care home providing personal care to people with mental health conditions. The service can support up to five people and there were four people using the service at the time of the inspection. The home is an ordinary three-storey domestic property with a rear garden, within walking distance of local transport links and amenities.
People's experience of using the service and what we found
People were safely supported by staff and systems were in place to identify and minimise risks to their safety and wellbeing.
People's individual needs were assessed before they moved in to ensure the service could provide the right care and support.
Staff developed care plans with people, to ensure these plans were person-centred and took account of people's own ideas and wishes to achieve recovery with their mental health. People's aspirations and preferences were incorporated into their care plans. Staff respected people's choices, and provided sensitive support and guidance where individual choices could negatively impact on people's safety, health and welfare.
People were supported to meet their mental health, nutritional and physical healthcare needs by staff with appropriate training and experience. People were supported to access external healthcare support. Staff understood how to protect people from the risk of abuse. People's medicine needs were safely met and they were provided with a clean and hygienic home.
People's rights to be cared for with dignity and privacy were respected by a caring and compassionate staff team. People's cultural and religious needs were respected and staff supported them where required to meet these needs.
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.
People engaged in fulfilling activities at home and in the wider community, for example healthy eating cookery sessions, gardening groups and visits to the gym. Activities were planned to support people to combat social isolation and promote their mental health recovery.
People, and their relatives where applicable, were encouraged to participate in meetings and/or complete surveys to express their opinions about the quality of the service. People and their representatives understood how to make a complaint about the service, if they wished to.
The provider had clear systems in place to monitor and audit the quality of people's care and support, and take corrective actions to respond to any deficits they found.
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 (published 09 October 2018) and there were two breaches of regulation. 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
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
Fairlawn is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. Fairlawn is registered to accommodate five adults with mental health care needs. At the time of the inspection the care home was providing personal care and accommodation for four people and there was one vacancy.
A registered manager is a person who has registered with CQC 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 is the director of the organisation that owns Fairlawn and was present on both days of the inspection.
We observed that people who used the service were at ease with the care staff and the management team. Staff told us that they enjoyed working at the service and felt supported by the provider.
Risks to people’s safety, health and wellbeing were not always identified and managed in an effective and positive manner. Staff did not consistently have appropriate written guidance within people’s care plans and accompanying risk assessments in order to demonstrate how they managed behaviours that challenged the service.
People stated that they felt safe using the service and thought that staff knew how to protect them from the risk of harm and abuse. The relatives we spoke with thought that staff were caring and committed to keeping their family members as safe as possible. However the provider had not appropriately informed us of events at the service that impacted on people’s safety, which meant we did not have accurate information in order to monitor the safety of people who used the service.
People received support from staff to receive their medicines. Staff had received applicable training and daily checks were carried out in order to minimise the risk of medicine errors occurring. The provider needed to ensure that potential risks were comprehensively assessed in circumstances where people progressed to managing aspects of their own medicine regime.
Staff were provided with training, support and supervision to enable them to meet the needs of people who used the service. The staff we spoke with told us that they had received induction training and opportunities to shadow experienced staff when they commenced employment with the provider, which was followed by a mandatory training programme. The training to meet the specific mental and physical health needs of people living at Fairlawn was limited in scope.
People who used the service were encouraged to make choices about their food and drink, however the provider did not demonstrate that people engaged in healthy grocery shopping and cooking.
Staff demonstrated an understanding of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS).
People were supported by staff to access health care services and attend health care appointments.
People and their relatives told us staff were compassionate and kind. We saw positive interactions between people who used the service and staff during the inspection. People told us that they were treated in a respectful way, and their privacy and independence were promoted. However we noted practices that did not protect people’s confidentiality and may have impacted on their wellbeing.
Systems were in place to support people to avail local leisure and social resources and take part in activities at home and in the wider community, although some people did not have their requested leisure and social wishes met.
People and their relatives were informed about their entitlement to make a complaint. Relatives reported that they thought that any complaints would be investigated by the provider in an open and responsive manner.
People and relatives were happy with how the service was managed. There were quality assurance systems in place to gather the views of people living at the care home and monitor the quality of the service provided. However, the provider's own audits had not picked up on issues we identified during the inspection.
We have recommended that the provider seeks advice in relation to the support needed for people who self-administer medicine. We found two breaches of regulations in relation to the provider ensuring that robust risk assessment are in place, and the appropriate authorities are informed about safeguarding events and visits to the service by the police. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.