About the service Douglas Close is a residential care home providing accommodation to up to 3 people requiring personal care. The service provides support to people with a learning disability, physical disability and/or autistic people in a residential property. At the time of our inspection, there were 3 people using the service.
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.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Right Support:
Staff supported people to live as independently as possible and have autonomy over their lives. People were provided with a choice in their decision-making and families were involved in people’s care. People's risks in relation to their care were managed and staff understood how to maintain and encourage people's independence. There were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs. We were assured that the service were following good infection prevention and control procedures to keep people safe. Healthcare professionals told us that staff worked well with them to achieve positive outcomes for people.
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.
Right Care:
Relatives told us they felt people were supported by staff in a kind, caring and dignified way and we observed this to be the case. People's differences were respected by staff and they had undertaken relevant training to effectively support people. This included training for learning disabilities and autism awareness. Relatives told us that staff knew their loved ones’ needs and preferences well. People's right to privacy was respected and staff encouraged people to provide feedback about the care provided in a format they could understand. Care plans were personalised and included information on people's healthcare needs, communication needs, preferences and other relevant information. Care plans included steps for staff to take in order to encourage people to follow good oral hygiene. People were supported to enjoy the diet of their choice and staff encouraged them to have a nutritionally balanced diet. People had individual goals and objectives which were regularly reviewed by staff. The service was situated in a residential area with no outward signs to differentiate it from other houses in the street. People were able to access the local community and were supported by staff to do so.
Right Culture:
The culture of the service was open, inclusive and empowered people to live as independently as possible. Relatives were complimentary about the service and felt their ideas and concerns would be listened to by the provider, registered manager and staff. The provider had undertaken audits to look at ways of improving the service. Staff were complimentary about the registered manager and provider and told us they felt able to raise concerns.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The service was registered with us on 6 December 2021 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
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, which will help inform when we next inspect.