Archived: St Anne's Community Services - Newhaven

Updated 30 October 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. The inspection was planned to check 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.

This inspection took place on 17 and 25 September 2018 and was announced. We gave 48 hours’ notice of the inspection, because the location is a small care home for adults who are often out during the day and we needed to be sure people would be in when we visited. The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Before the inspection we reviewed information we held about the service. This included notifications the provider had sent us about events or incidents that occurred and which affected their service or the people who used it. We contacted the local authority adult safeguarding and quality monitoring team as well as Healthwatch, the consumer champion for health and social care, to ask if they had any information to share. We used this information to plan our inspection.

We used information the provider sent us in the 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.

During the inspection we spoke with two people who used the service and three people’s relatives for their feedback. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We spoke with the registered manager, deputy manager, area manager and four members of staff.

We looked at three people’s care plans, risk assessments, daily notes and medication administration records. We reviewed two staff’s recruitment records, as well as training, supervision and appraisal records for the staff team, and meeting minutes, audits and a selection of other records relating to the management of the service.

Updated 30 October 2018

St Anne’s Community Services – Newhaven is registered to provide residential care for up to five people who may be living with a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder. The service is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service is a two-storey house, on a quiet road close to Boroughbridge town centre. There are a wide range of public amenities including shops, churches and pubs nearby. At the time of our inspection there were five people using the service.

The care service 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 so that people with learning disabilities and autism can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

This inspection took place on 17 and 25 September 2018 and was announced. We gave 48 hours’ notice of the inspection because the location was a small care home for adults who are often out during the day, and we needed to be sure people would be in when we visited.

At our last inspection in February 2016, we rated the service ‘good’. At this inspection, the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

The service had a registered manager. They had been the registered manager since February 2012. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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. The registered manager also managed another of the provider’s locations and split their time between the two services. They were supported by a deputy manager and area manager.

People told us they felt safe. Staff were safely recruited and sufficient staff were deployed to meet people’s needs. Agency staff were used when necessary to maintain staffing levels and were effectively integrated into the team.

People’s medicines were managed and administered safely. The registered manager and provider had made plans to replace furniture and redecorate the service. We made a recommendation about strengthening environmental cleaning and audits.

Staff had regular training and were supported through supervisions and appraisals to provide effective care. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Applications had been made when necessary to deprive people of their liberty.

Staff provided safe support at mealtimes and encouraged people to have a varied and healthy diet. They helped people to attend medical appointments and consulted with healthcare professionals when needed.

Staff were kind and caring. They treated people with dignity and respect. Care plans included detailed information about how people communicated. This helped staff to share information and support people to make decisions.

Care plans were detailed and person-centred. Staff understood what was important to people and encouraged them to engage in wide range of activities pursuing their hobbies and interests. Staff promoted people’s independence. People told us they felt able to speak with staff if there was anything they were worried or concerned about. There were systems in place to manage and respond to complaints.

We received consistently positive feedback about the management of the service. Staff told us management were approachable and supportive. There was effective teamwork and a person-centred culture within the service.

The registered manager and provider had systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service. They effectively shared information with the staff team and took action to continually improve the service.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.