Updated 22 February 2019
The inspection:
• We carried out our inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. Our inspection checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team:
• Our inspection was completed by one adult social care inspector and an expert by experience. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. Our expert-by-experience was familiar with the care of people with learning disabilities and autism.
Service and service type:
• Pear Tree Grove is a 'care home'. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement.
• CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.
• Pear Tree Lodge 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 living with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.
• The service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. At the time of our inspection, a manager was not registered with us.
Notice of inspection:
• Our inspection was unannounced.
• The inspection site visit occurred on 21 January 2019.
What we did:
• Our inspection was informed by evidence we already held about the service. We also checked for feedback we received from members of the public, local authorities and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). We checked records held by Companies House and the Food Standards Agency.
• We asked the service to complete a Provider Information Return. This is 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 spoke with two people living in the service, three relatives, the provider and two staff members. Due to communication difficulties, we were not able to speak with other people living in the service. Instead, we observed relationships between people and staff. We saw how staff members supported people throughout the inspection to help us understand peoples’ experiences of living in the home.
• We reviewed two people’s care records, two staff personnel files, seven medicines administration records and other records relating to the management of the service.
• We asked the provider to send us further information after our inspection. This was received and used as evidence for our ratings.