The Care Quality Commission has found significant improvements at Cherrycroft, in Westcliffe-on-sea, and upgraded the rating from inadequate to good, following an inspection in October.
Cherrycroft is a residential care home run by Achieve Together Limited, and provides care for autistic people or people with a learning disability. At the time of inspection, ten people were using the service.
The inspection was completed to follow up on whether improvements had been made after a December 2023 inspection rated the service as inadequate.
As well as the overall rating improving from inadequate to good, so have the ratings for safe, effective, and well-led. How caring and responsive the service is have also improved from requires improvement to good.
Hazel Roberts, deputy director of operations in the East of England, said:
When we inspected Cherrycroft, we were pleased to see vast improvements across the whole service. It was great to see the principles of right support, right care, right culture in action, giving autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence, and good access to local communities that most people take for granted.
Staff had built good relationships with the people in their care and people told us they were now happy living there. Since our previous inspection, leaders had also put in place the policies and systems which supported staff to respect people’s individual preferences and encourage their independence.
We saw that care was now much safer. Cherrycroft now had good care plans and risk assessments in place, staff were managing medicines safely, and receiving the right training for their roles to keep people safe. Most relatives told us they were involved in the process, and we found care plans included people’s wishes and needs.
However, one relative told us they had never seen the care plan despite making multiple requests. We were informed that the regional manager had arranged a meeting with relatives to discuss communication and any ongoing concerns.
Everyone at Cherrycroft should be really pleased with the progress they’ve made, and we’ve shared our findings with them so they can continue to build on their achievement to make further improvements. We will continue to monitor the service to ensure the new standards are sustained.
Inspectors found:
- Numerous positive interactions between staff and people who used the service.
- People were able to move around the service freely and had access to a varied activity programme.
- Staff responded to people promptly.
- Care plans contained information for staff to promote people’s independence in areas such as mobility, communication, and risk.
- Additional action was taken to ensure monitoring records and care plans captured any changes to people’s health so relevant professionals could be contacted and involved if necessary.
- Staff received training to support them to recognise early signs and symptoms of deteriorating physical health.
- The registered manager was actively supporting staff with learning and innovative ways of working at the service.
- The registered manager had developed relationships in the local community including working closely with health professionals and local authority.
Inspectors also found:
- A fire door in the kitchen wasn’t accessible which could pose a fire risk to people using the kitchen. Following the inspection, the regional manager told CQC they had placed an order for a new fire door and had made the existing door accessible.
- A relative told CQC they felt their relatives’ recent behavioural changes had not been met or addressed. The service told CQC they are now inviting relatives to attend reviews to discuss improving outcomes for people.
The report will be published on CQC’s website in the next few days.