Rusthall Respite

Rusthall Respite is a care home which provides a short breaks service for people living with learning disabilities, physical disabilities, autism and sensory impairments. The service provides accommodation and personal care for up to five people at any one time. At the time of our inspection, the service had 34 people which had/were booked to receive respite services during the year.

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

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.

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.

Right support: People enjoyed their short breaks at Rusthall Respite because they were encouraged to learn new skills and do things that were meaningful and excited them. There were always enough staff on duty. Staff worked flexibly to ensure people were supported by suitable staff.

People experienced choice and control over their lives and their individual communication methods were understood. People were supported to maintain good physical and mental health during their stays at the service.

Right care: People were supported by a team of committed, kind and caring staff. Staff skillfully supported people; upholding privacy and dignity as a matter of routine. Staff had a good understanding about how to safeguard people. Risks to the health, safety and well-being were identified and mitigated.

Right culture: The atmosphere in the service was relaxed and friendly with lots of fun and laughter being shared. Positive relationships between people and staff had been developed that were based on trust and respect. People and relatives were confident to raise concerns or suggest changes for the service as well as to the way they received support. Quality assurance processes enabled ongoing improvement. Learning was shared from within and outside the organisation and community contacts were well established.

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 the service under the previous provider was good (published 14 August 2019. The provider changed in April 2020 and the service has not been inspected to provide a rating under the new provider.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection to provide a rating for the service following its re-registration.

We undertook this inspection to assess that the service is applying the principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

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.