Archived: Ferndale Crescent

Updated 25 April 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team: The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type: Ferndale Crescent is a care home which provides support to people who have learning disabilities. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection: This inspection was unannounced. We carried out the site visit of the inspection on 3 and 4 April 2019.

What we did:

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection in May 2017. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about.

We assessed the information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection, we met with everyone living in the home. Some people had communication difficulties associated with their learning disability, so they were not able to fully talk with us about their experience of living in Ferndale Crescent. People looked relaxed and comfortable with the staff who supported them. We spoke with five care staff and the registered manager.

We reviewed a range of records. These included three people's care records and medication records. We also looked at two staff files around staff recruitment, training and supervision. We reviewed records relating to the management of the home and a variety of policies and procedures developed and implemented by the provider.

We asked the registered manager to send us further documents which included the training matrix for all staff and quality assurance checks completed by the provider. We received and reviewed this information as part of our inspection.

We contacted two relatives by telephone seeking their views of the service. We also emailed two health and social care professionals and local commissioners of the service. You can see what they told us in the main body of the report.

Updated 25 April 2019

About the service: Ferndale Crescent is a residential home which provides support to people who have learning disabilities. The service is registered with the Commission to provide personal care for up to eight people and at the time of our inspection there were six people using the service.

People’s experience of using this service:

The care service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

The service was registered before CQC's 'Registering the right support" policy was published. However, the registered manager demonstrated they promoted the principles of this guidance. People were treated as individuals, encouraged to lead active lifestyles and were part of their local community.

People received personalised care, which met their needs. Guidance was in place to support people consistently and in the way, they wanted. Care plans were informative. People had access to other health care professionals. People were supported to pursue their interests and hobbies, and social activities were offered

Staff knew people well. They were caring in their approach. People told us they liked the staff that supported them and were at ease with the staff that were on duty. People's relatives spoke positively about the service and the support that was in place.

Risks to people's health, safety and wellbeing were assessed. Support plans were put in place to ensure these were reduced as much as possible. People were protected from potential abuse by staff who had received training and were confident in raising concerns.

There was a thorough recruitment process in place that checked potential staff were safe to work

with people living at Ferndale Crescent. People were involved in the recruitment of staff. Staff were provided with the training, supervision and support they needed to care for people.

The service was well led. There was a positive culture at the service where staff and people felt listened to and supported. There were suitable quality assurance systems in place to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service provided.

Rating at last inspection: Rating at last inspection: Good (report published June 2017)

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection. We found the service continues to meet the characteristics of good with improvements made to how the service supported people with meaningful activities.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk