Millpool

Updated 25 March 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.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Harleston 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. Harleston 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 who was also the registered provider. We have referred to them as the registered provider throughout the report.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced to ensure someone would be in and be able to have the time to answer our questions.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since its registration. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used information gathered as part of our inspection to form our judgements.

During the inspection

The inspection visit was on 13 February 2023. Feedback was given during the day. We met the registered provider; their partner and the person being supported. We looked at the care environment and records relating to their care and support. Following the inspection, we spoke with 3 of their relatives and continued to request additional information to help us reach our judgements.

Updated 25 March 2023

About the service

Harleston is a residential care home providing personal care and support and is registered to support up to 1 person. The service provides support to people with a learning disability, and or autistic people. At the time of our inspection there was 1 person living at the service.

People's experience of using this service and what we found: 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. We were confident people had received a well-planned, safe service over the last twelve months.

Right Care

The person being supported lived in a comfortable, clean environment which was safe. They were supported by the registered provider daily for both their care needs and social support. They regularly accessed social activities and were involved in their local community. The registered provider supported the person to maintain contact with their family and friends who they had previously known from a local day centre.

Right Culture

The provider had the knowledge and skills to carry out their roles and responsibilities. We found them very responsive to our feedback and immediately addressed any issues raised. The culture within the home was positive and we were confident that the persons dignity, privacy and independence were fully promoted.

Right Support

The person was supported to access health care appointments to ensure they remained in good health. Their health and medicines were monitored and regularly reviewed, and they received a healthy well-balanced diet.

The person received personalised care, and this was clearly documented. Risks associated with their care were clearly established and mitigated as far as reasonably possible.

The person was able to communicate in a limited way and was able to make their day to day care needs known. However, for bigger decisions they would need considerable support. Decisions taken in their best interest had been discussed with relevant professionals but not recorded to show what decision had been reached and how this was in the persons best interest.

Written consent for the persons care and support was not on file. We asked the provider to address this.

As an outcome of our inspection findings, we have made a number of recommendations in our report around mental capacity decisions and training.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for the service was good (published 30 September 2017).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. The service has been registered for over 20 years but there has been a recent change in registration, change of location name and address on 08 April 2022 so this was the first inspection of a newly registered location.

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. As this is a domestic property with only one person being supported we did not ask to see audits or any other paper work in regards to the premises as we were able to see very high standards of cleanliness were maintained throughout and furniture was in a good state of repair.

The overall rating for this inspection was good. For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection good.

Follow up

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