Background to this inspection
Updated
24 July 2021
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 Care Act 2014.
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
This inspection was completed by one inspector.
Service and service type
Sunny Croft is a ‘care home’. 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 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
We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small and people are often out and we wanted to be sure there would be people at home to speak with us.
What we did before the inspection
We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. 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 asked the local authority and Healthwatch for any information they had which would aid our inspection.
Local authorities together with other agencies may have responsibility for funding people who used the service and monitoring its quality. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spent time with two people who used the service to understand their experience of the care provided and spoke with three relatives. We spoke with four staff members including two support workers, registered manager and nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We looked at the care and support plans for two people and looked at several documents relating to the monitoring of the location, training, health and safety checks. We confirmed the safe recruitment of two staff members.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. This included further conversations with the registered manager and nominated individual.
Updated
24 July 2021
About the service
Sunny Croft is a residential care home that accommodates up to five people living with learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder. At the time of our inspection there were two people living at the home.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were protected from the risks of ill-treatment and abuse as the staff team had been trained to recognise potential signs of abuse and understood what to do to if they suspected wrong doing.
The provider had assessed the risks to people associated with their care and support. Staff members were knowledgeable about these risks and knew what to do to minimise the potential for harm to people.
People received safe support with their medicines by staff members who had been trained and assessed as competent. The provider had systems in place to complete an investigation, should a medicine error occur, to ensure the person was safe and lessons were learnt to minimise the risk of reoccurrence.
Staff members followed effective infection prevention and control procedures when supporting people.
The provider had systems in place to encourage and respond to feedback from people or those close to them. The provider and management team had good links with the local communities within which people lived.
The provider supported staff in providing effective care for people through person-centred care planning, training and one-to-one supervision.
People received help and support from a kind and compassionate staff team with whom they had developed positive relationships. People were supported by staff members who were aware of their individual protected characteristics like age, gender and disability.
People were provided with information in a way they could understand. The provider had systems in place to encourage and respond to any compliments or complaints from people or those close to them. The provider, and management team, had good links with the local communities within which people lived.
The management team and provider had systems in place to identify improvements and drive good care. The provider had kept the CQC informed about significant events at Sunny Croft.
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.
Right support:
• Model of care and setting maximises people’s choice, control and independence
Right care:
• Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human rights
Right culture:
• Ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives
This service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture. People were supported in a small home based in a residential area with access to community facilities. 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.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
This service was registered with us on 02/01/2020 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on our published inspection methodology.
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.
We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this report.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Sunny Croft on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.