Archived: The Avenue

Updated 9 October 2021

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

This inspection was completed by one inspector.

Service and service type

The Avenue is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

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 unannounced.

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. 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 this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with six members of staff including the quality and compliance manager, registered manager, senior support workers and support workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

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 received feedback from two relatives via e-mail.

Updated 9 October 2021

About the service

The Avenue is a residential care home providing personal care to six younger people who may be autistic or living with a learning disability. The service can support up to six people.

The service had been designed to meet people’s specific needs. People had their own bedrooms and access to shared communal areas such as a garden, a kitchen, bathrooms and a conservatory area.

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

People and their relatives were very positive about the support they or their family member received. One relative told us, ‘‘The key to this service being so good is that is open to working with people living there- they understand [family member] is not a service user- he is my family member and they treat him as such. They are not a number and they are cared for as an individual.’’

People felt safe living at the service and were supported by staff who were trained in safeguarding and who knew how to report any safety concerns. Risks to people were assessed and measures were put in place to mitigate risks as far as possible. There were enough staff to support people safely and ensure all their support needs were met. People were supported safely with their medicines. The service was visibly clean, and measures were taken to help prevent the spread of infection.

The registered manager assessed people’s needs before they began using the service. Staff received training and supervision to help ensure they were effective in their job roles. People were supported to follow a healthy and balanced diet. Staff supported people to stay healthy and attend health appointments as and when necessary. 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 received kind and compassionate care from a staff team who knew them well as individuals. Staff were passionate about supporting people in line with their individual support needs and preferences. People were given choices in all areas of their support and were supported to be as independent as possible. Staff supported people to set and achieve personal goals and ambitions. People were supported to communicate in ways that made sense to them and were supported to follow their preferred social past times. People and their relatives had access to a complaint’s procedure should they wish to raise any concerns.

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.

The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of right support, right care, right culture. People were given choices in all aspects of their support. They were supported to set personal goals and staff promoted people to be as independent as possible. The service had been designed to support people to be involved and be a part of their local community. The registered manager and staff team were passionate about supporting people to lead their own lives and supported and respected people’s decisions. People were treated as individuals by a staff team who knew them well.

The registered manager and provider promoted a positive culture at the service. They empowered staff in their job roles, which led to staff empowering people to achieve their own personal goals. Audits were completed to monitor the quality of the service and actions were taken where improvements were found. People, relatives and the staff team were supported to feed back about the service and felt that their suggestions were listened to by the registered manager. The registered manager and staff tea linked with health professionals and the local community to support people to achieve good outcomes.

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 06/06/2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on when the service was registered with us.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

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.