Newlands

Updated 18 March 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.

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

Three Inspectors and an Expert by Experience carried out the inspection. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The Expert by Experience made telephone calls to relatives.

Service and service type

Newlands 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 inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought and received feedback from two social care professionals who work with the service. The provider was asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. However, we did not receive this. This may have been due to a technical error. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does 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 communicated with six people who used the service and eight relatives about their experience of the care provided. Some people who used the service communicated with us using different methods including the use of pictures, gestures and body language. We are improving how we hear people’s experience and views on services, when they have limited verbal communication. We have trained some CQC team members to use a symbol-based communication tool. We checked that this was a suitable communication method and people were happy to use it with us. We did this by speaking to the registered manager. In this report, we used this communication tool with four people to tell us their experience.

We spoke with eight members of staff including the registered manager. We also spoke with a visiting health care professional. We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records and various medication records. We looked at three 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 policies and procedures and quality assurance records. We spoke with one professional who regularly visit the service.

Updated 18 March 2022

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

Newlands is a residential care home providing personal care to nineteen at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to nineteen people with a learning disability. People live in one converted bungalow.

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

Right Support

Staff did not provide effective support to identify people’s aspirations and goals and assist people to plan how these would be met. Staff did not always focus on people’s strengths and promoted what they could do. There was not a consistent approach to supporting people to learn new skills or maintain their skills for as long as possible, where this was appropriate.

The service provided people with care and support in a clean, well equipped, well-furnished and well-maintained environment that met their sensory and physical needs. However, some safety aspects had not been identified and mitigated prior to the inspection. The risk to people from hot, uncovered radiators had not been addressed.

People had choice about their living environment and were able to personalise their rooms. Staff enabled people to access specialist health and social care support in the community. Staff supported people to make decisions following best practice in decision making.

The size of the service was larger than current best practice guidance. However, the building design fitted in to the residential area and did not stand out from the other residential homes.

Right Care

People could communicate with staff as staff understood their individual communication. However, there was no evidence staff had fully explored how to make information accessible to people as much as it could be.

Staff promoted equality and diversity in their support for people. They understood people’s cultural needs and provided culturally appropriate care. People received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to their individual needs.

Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe.

People could take part in activities and keep in touch with people who were important to them.

Right culture

The service had not fully enabled people and those important to them to work with staff to develop the service. Feedback had been received from relatives which was positive. However, there was a lack of systems in place to support people to feedback about the service.

Staff had not always ensured the quality and safety of the service had been fully assessed to ensure people were safe. Safe recruitment practices were not always followed.

Staff knew and understood people well. People received good quality care, support and treatment because trained staff and specialists could meet their needs and wishes.

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

Why we inspected

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

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.