Archived: 5 Dorchester Avenue

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.

About the service

5 Dorchester Avenue is registered to provide personal care. At the time of this inspection, the service was providing personal care for three people living in a supported living scheme. People who used the service had autism and learning disabilities.

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

The service demonstrated how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right support:

People had maximum choice and control of their lives. There was evidence of positive support, including choice, participation, and inclusion. Their support plans set out individualised goals that had been discussed and agreed with them. The service people received was provided in a house, which was similar to the other houses in the area. People’s rooms were clean and personalised with their belongings and family photographs.

Right care:

Care was person-centred and promoted people’s dignity, privacy and human rights. Care plans described how people should be supported so their privacy, dignity and rights were upheld. Staff spoke knowledgeably about how they ensured people received care that met their diverse needs, including spiritual and cultural differences.

Right culture:

The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensured people using services led confident, inclusive and empowered lives. There was an open and inclusive approach to the running of the service. Feedback from people’s relatives confirmed people had choice and control over their care and were encouraged to raise any issues of concern.

People lived safely because the service assessed, monitored and managed their safety well. Risks to people had been identified, assessed and reviewed. The assessments provided information about how to support people to ensure risks were reduced.

The service had enough staff, including for one-to-one support for people. The numbers of staff matched the needs of people using the service. Pre-employment checks had been carried out. These checks helped to ensure only suitable applicants were offered work with the service.

People received their medicines safely. They were supported by staff who followed systems and processes to administer, record and store medicines safely. We observed from records people received their medicines on time.

People were protected from the risks associated with poor infection control because the service used effective infection, prevention and control measures to keep people safe, and staff supported people to follow them.

The service completed a comprehensive assessment of each person’s needs and aspirations either on admission or soon after. People’s support plans included guidance about meeting these needs.

There was a process in place to report, monitor and learn from accidents and incidents. Accidents were documented timely in line with the service’s policy and guidance.

There was an effective training system in place. People were supported by staff who had received relevant and good quality training in evidence-based practice.

People’s nutritional needs were met. They received support to eat and drink enough to maintain a balanced diet. Staff had taken steps to make sure people’s nutrition and hydration needs were met.

People’s health needs were met. Staff from different disciplines worked together to make sure people had no gaps in their care.

Staff respected people’s choices and wherever possible, including those relevant to protected characteristics due to cultural or religious preferences.

Governance processes were effective and helped to assess, monitor and check the quality of the service provided to people. Audits had been carried out on a range of areas critical to the delivery

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 04/02/2021 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on our timelines for inspecting newly registered services.

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.