Eastcote Care

Updated 30 April 2022

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Eastcote Care provides care and support to people living in a ‘supported living’ setting, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced.

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with one person who used the service and one relative about the care provided. We spoke with five members of staff, including the registered manager and the service director.

We reviewed seven care records of people using the service, seven personnel files of care workers, audits and other records about the management of the service, including policies and procedures.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We spoke with two professionals who regularly visited the service.

Updated 30 April 2022

Summary

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

Eastcote Care is registered to provide personal care to people with mental health needs and also people who may have learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder. At the time of this inspection, the service was providing personal care for three people living in a supported living scheme.

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

The service demonstrated how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right support:

People had maximum choice and control of their lives. There was evidence of positive support, including choice, participation, and inclusion. People’s support plans set out person centred goals that had been discussed and agreed with them. They were supported to safely access local facilities and amenities. The service people received was provided in a house, which was similar to the other houses in the area. People’s rooms were clean and personalised with their belongings and family photographs.

Right care:

Care was person-centred and promoted people’s dignity, privacy and human rights. People’s privacy was respected. The care plans described how people should be supported so their privacy and dignity were upheld. Care plans instructed staff to ensure personal needs and preferences of all people were respected regardless of their background. Staff spoke knowledgeably about how they ensured people received care that met their diverse needs, including spiritual and cultural differences.

Right culture:

The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensured people using services led confident, inclusive and empowered lives. There was an open and inclusive approach to the running of the service. People’s relatives told us care reviews counted for something. They told us people had choice and control over their care and were encouraged to raise any issues of concern, which they felt were valued and acted upon. Care workers understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. They had received up-to-date safeguarding training appropriate to their role. They knew how to identify and report concerns.

There were effective systems and processes in place to minimise risks to people. The assessments provided information about how to support people to ensure risks were reduced.

There were enough care workers deployed to keep people safe. Pre-employment checks had been carried out.

There were systems in place to ensure proper and safe use of medicines. We observed from records people received their medicines on time.

People were protected from the risks associated with poor infection control because the service had processes in place to reduce the risk of infection and cross contamination.

There was a process in place to report, monitor and learn from accidents and incidents. Accidents were documented timely in line with the service’s policy and guidance.

There was an effective training system in place. Care workers demonstrated good knowledge and skills necessary for their role.

People’s health needs were met. The service worked with a range of professionals including GP, palliative care team and speech and language specialists.

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.

There was a complaints procedure in place, which people’s relatives were aware of. Quality assurance processes such as audits, spot checks, accidents and incidents, were used to drive improvements.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 07/06/2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on our timelines for inspecting newly registered services.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.