39 School Lane

Updated 14 February 2024

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of two inspectors.

Service and service type

39 School Lane is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. 39 School Lane is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

The inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We asked for and received feedback from the local authority. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spent time seeing how people were cared for by staff and spoke with 3 people who used the service and 2 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 10 staff members including the registered manager, the deputy manager, a provider representative and care staff. We also spoke with a health and social care professional who also works with staff to support people living at the home.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 4 people’s care plans and multiple records of medicines administration. We looked at a variety of documents relating to the safety of the home and the management of the service, including quality monitoring checks. We reviewed key policies and procedures. We confirmed the safe recruitment of 4 staff members, and checked how new staff were supported when they first came to work at 39 School Lane.

Updated 14 February 2024

About the service

39 School Lane is a Care home service without nursing providing accommodation and personal to up to 8 people. The service provides support to younger adults some of whom may live with mental health support needs. At the time of our inspection there were 6 people using the service.

People’s experience of the service and what we found:

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. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

Right Support

People were encouraged to make their own decisions and these were respected by staff. Staff now focused on people’s safety and rights, so people would be less anxious and enjoy the best well-being possible. 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. Where people wanted some assistance to make key decisions about their care, staff supported them, following best practice in decision-making. People were able to personalise their rooms and received care and support in a safe and clean environment that met their needs. The registered manager and provider planned to introduce more checks on the garden area, so they could be assured the equipment and storage of items met people’s needs and mitigated risks to their safety. Staff supported people with their medicines in a way which achieved the best possible health and well-being outcomes.

Right Care

Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. The leadership at the home checked key areas of people’s safety and considered if there was any additional action they could take to work with people to mitigate their risks. Staff enabled people to access specialist health and social care support in the community and advocated for them when they wanted this support. People, the registered manager and provider were working together to ensure there continued to be enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs, and keep them safe. People’s care, treatment and support plans reflected their range of needs and this promoted their wellbeing and safety.

Right Culture

People told us they liked the new staff and management team supporting them and they were treated as equal partners in their care and the development of the home. The leadership at the home recognised some elements of the culture of the home required further development and were supporting this. However, people were achieving good outcomes which had a significant positive impact on their well-being, health and day to day lives. Staff evaluated the quality of support provided to people, focusing on the person and other professionals as appropriate. Staff ensured risks of a closed culture were minimised so that people received support based on transparency, respect and inclusivity.

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 05 August 2023.

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 improvement had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection. When we last inspected 39 School Lane on 05 August 2023 breaches of legal requirements were found. This inspection was undertaken to check whether they were now meeting the legal requirements.

We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key question not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection by selecting the ‘All inspection reports and timeline’ link for 39 School Lane on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow Up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.