Archived: Searsons Way

Updated 11 February 2023

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.

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

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Searsons Way is a 'care home'. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. 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

This inspection was unannounced on the first and also the third time we visited the service. Inspection activity started on 24 November 2022 and ended on 05 January 2023. We visited the service on 24 and 25 November 2022 and 09 December 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we already held about this service. This included details of its registration, previous inspection reports and any notifications of significant incidents the provider had sent us. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). 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 sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 2 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 4 members of staff including 3 care staff and the registered manager. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 3 people’s care records and multiple medicines records. We looked at 4 staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 11 February 2023

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

Searsons Way is a residential care home which was providing personal care to 3 people at the time of our inspection. All people living at the service were autistic or had learning disabilities. The service can support up to 4 people in one adapted building over two floors.

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

Right Support

People were supported to live safely. Medicines were administered to people by staff who had been trained and competency assessed. This was an improvement from our last inspection. Evidence indicated people were supported by the right amount of staff. We made a recommendation about this at our previous inspection. Staff were recruited safely. People were supported through systems to safeguard them from abuse, this included financial abuse. We had made a recommendation about this previously. People were kept safe through good infection prevention and control practice. People were supported by other agencies which the provider assisted them to do.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Right Care

Risks to people were assessed and monitored. The provider completed health and safety checks to ensure where people lived was safe. Care provided was person-centred and the provider aimed to meet people’s communication needs. The provider had quality assurance measures to monitor whether people got the right care.

Right culture

Improvements had been made at the service since our last inspection. However, relatives expressed concerns about whether there was open and positive culture at the service. Relatives told us they felt improvements could be made to how the service was managed, in particular how the service had work to do in becoming more transparent with their decision making and communications. Evidence showed the provider had recorded concerns and attempted to resolve issues and attempted to communicate with relatives. The provider had not re-registered the service along with its sister service next door, which was something they told us they would do at the last inspection.

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 November 2020) and there were multiple breaches of regulation. 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 improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

At our last inspection we recommended that the provider follow best practice guidance on maintaining safe and suitable staffing levels, we recommended the provider follow best practice guidance on developing a culture of keeping people safe from abuse and we also recommended the provider follow best practice guidance on seeking advice and guidance from CQC about re-registering the service as it was not meeting the requirements of CQC ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance for residential services for people living with learning disabilities and or autism . At this inspection we found improvements made around all three recommendations, but the service had not re-registered the service or sought guidance from CQC in this regard.

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection to assess that the service is applying the principles of Right support right care right culture and to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.

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.