Colliers House

Updated 9 December 2020

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of CQC’s response to care homes with outbreaks of coronavirus, we are conducting reviews to ensure that the Infection Prevention and Control practice was safe and the service was compliant with IPC measures. This was a targeted inspection looking at the IPC practices the provider has in place.

This inspection took place on 1st December 2020 and was announced.

Updated 9 December 2020

About the service

Colliers House is a care home which provides support for up to 12 people. At the time of our visit, 11 people were using the service. These are young people with complex physical needs, learning disabilities and autism. Colliers House comprises of three adjacent large properties situated in a residential area and people live in flats within these.

The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.

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

The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence.

The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.

Staff were caring in their approach and had good relationships with people. Promoting independence was a core goal of the service and people were encouraged to improve their daily life skills to develop further.

There were enough staff to ensure people were safe. Where risks associated with people's health and wellbeing had been identified, plans were in place to manage those risks whilst ensuring people could remain independent.

Staff understood their responsibility to safeguard people from harm and knew how to report concerns. Systems were in place to ensure any potential safeguarding concerns were prevented.

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; systems supported this practice.

People received care which was responsive to their individual needs. Staff knew people well and had a good understanding of how to support them. Care records provided staff with person centred information in relation to people’s backgrounds, interests and individual health needs.

Staff encouraged people to maintain a balanced diet and respected their individual choices. The provider and staff team worked with external healthcare professionals to ensure people's health and wellbeing was maintained.

A registered manager was in post. Positive feedback was received in relation to the management of the service and the improvements that had been made recently. People and staff were actively involved in, and had opportunities to feedback about, the running of the service.

Quality checks were carried out to monitor the service, and some identified where improvements could be made. However, some checks had not been completed correctly by staff which meant opportunities to improve care could be missed.

Medicines were administered correctly, and staff had received training in relation to this, however improvements were required around some of the systems and audits.

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 rated as Good (published 4 May 2017).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about poor staff practices. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

The inspection was also prompted by notification of a specific incident following which a person using the service died. The information CQC received about the incident indicated concerns about the management of choking risks. This inspection examined those risks for people currently using the service, however we found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns.

Follow up

We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.