The Red House

Updated 3 February 2024

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection prevention and control measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

The Red house is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. The Red House is a care home which does not provide nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post. However, the registered manager was absent from work during the inspection site visits. The day-to-day management of the service was being carried out by the deputy manager, with additional support from one of the provider’s operations managers.

Notice of inspection

The inspection site visit on the evening of 22 November 2023 was unannounced. We then made 2 further visits to the care home on 23 November 2023 and 29 November 2023. Those 2 further site visits were announced because it is a small service and we needed to be sure the deputy manager and operations manager would be available to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We also obtained feedback from the Local Authority social services team. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 5 people who use the service and observed staff interactions with people. We spoke with the deputy manager, operations manager, and care staff. We received feedback from 6 care staff. We reviewed 3 staff recruitment files and elements of 3 people's care plans and risk assessments. We reviewed various records and copies of the provider's policies and procedures. We also received feedback from 4 family members, and 5 external health and social care professionals, who had regular contact with the service.

Updated 3 February 2024

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

The Red House is a residential care home providing personal care to 7 people at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 7 people. The care home is an adapted and extended domestic style building.

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

Right Support

People were not always supported to make important choices about their money. Best interest decision processes were not always in place. For example, there was no evidence that people, or their appointees, had consented to pay the provider a weekly charge in respect of the care home vehicle.

Some aspects of people’s living environment were not always safe and the provider’s quality monitoring processes were not always effective at spotting those issues and rectifying them in a timely way. Staff supported people in the least restrictive way. They supported people to be as independent as possible. People were supported by staff to pursue their interests and work towards achieving their aspirations and goals. People had a choice about their living environment and were able to personalise their rooms. Staff enabled people to access specialist healthcare support in the community. Staff supported people to play an active role in maintaining their own health and wellbeing.

Right Care

Staff understood and responded to people’s individual needs. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. People’s support plans reflected their range of needs, and this promoted their wellbeing and enjoyment of life.

Right Culture

People were supported by staff who understood best practice in relation to the wide range of strengths, impairments, or sensitivities people with a learning disability and/or autistic people may have. Staff turnover was very low, which supported people to receive consistent care from staff who knew them well. Staff placed people’s wishes, needs, and rights at the heart of everything they did. Staff evaluated the quality of support provided to people, involving the person, their families and other professionals as appropriate. Staff ensured risks of a closed culture were minimised so that people received support based on transparency, respect and inclusivity.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 17 March 2018).

Why we inspected

We undertook this focused inspection to check whether the previous rating was still accurate, given the length of time since the last inspection. We reviewed the key questions of Safe, Effective, and Well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed to Requires Improvement, based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Red House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement

At this inspection, we have identified a breach of regulation in relation to the provider's quality monitoring and governance processes. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.