8 November 2022
During a routine inspection
About the service
Pippin House is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care to up to eight younger adults with learning disabilities and/or mental health needs, who live with a hearing impairment. At the time of the inspection, seven people were living at the home.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Right support: Model of care and setting maximises people’s choice, control and Independence;
People were kept safe from avoidable harm because staff knew them well and understood how to protect them from abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. One person commented, “I am happy here. I feel safe.” Other people were not able to comment on their safety. However, their body language while interacting with staff was relaxed and positive, which indicated they felt safe.
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.
People lived safely and free from unwarranted restrictions because the service assessed, monitored and managed safety well. There were comprehensive risk assessments in place covering all aspects of the service and support provided.
Medicines were managed as necessary. Infection control measures were in place.
Care files were personalised to reflect people’s personal preferences. Their views and suggestions were taken into account to improve the service. People were supported to maintain a balanced diet. Health and social care professionals were regularly involved in people’s care to ensure they received the care and treatment which was right for them.
There were effective staff recruitment and selection processes in place.
Right care: Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human rights;
Staff relationships with people were caring and supportive. Staff provided care that was kind and compassionate. Relatives commented, “The staff are absolutely cracking”, “I have never known [person’s name] so happy. The staff are amazing” and “[Person’s name] has a wonderful life. The staff are so caring and go above and beyond.”
Right culture: Ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives;
People’s equality, diversity and human rights were respected. The service’s vision and values centred around the people they supported. The organisation’s statement of purpose documented a philosophy of maximising people’s life choices, encouraging independence and people having a sense of worth and value. Our inspection found that the organisation’s philosophy was embedded in Pippin House. For example, people were constantly encouraged to lead rich and meaningful lives.
People were supported by staff who had received relevant and good quality training in evidence-based practice. This included training in the wide range of strengths and impairments people with a learning disability and or autistic people may have, mental health needs, communication tools and positive behaviour support.
The service worked hard to instil a culture of care in which staff truly valued and promoted people’s individuality, protected their rights and enabled them to develop and flourish.
Staff felt respected, supported and valued by the registered manager which supported a positive and improvement-driven culture.
A number of methods were used to assess the quality and safety of the service people received. The service made continuous improvements in response to their findings.
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 30 June 2021 and this is the first inspection.
The last rating for the service under the previous provider was good, published on 25 April 2018.
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
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.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.