Archived: Little Acre - The Annex

Updated 4 April 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

Service and service type:

Little Acre – The Annex is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection:

The inspection was unannounced.

What we did:

We reviewed information that we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included checking incidents the provider notified us about such as abuse. We assessed the 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 used all of this information to plan our inspection.

People living at The Annex were not able to share with us their experience of living at the service. Therefore, we spent some time observing staff with people in communal areas during the inspection. We spoke with two care staff, the assistant manager and the registered manager.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and medication records. We also looked at three staff files around staff recruitment and supervision and the training records of all staff. We reviewed records relating to the management of the home and a variety of policies and procedures developed and implemented by the provider.

Following the inspection, we spoke with one relative.

Updated 4 April 2019

About the service:

Little Acre – The Annex is a residential care home that accommodates up to three people living with a learning disability or Autistic Spectrum Disorder. At the time of our inspection there were three people living at the service. The service has been designed to be a next step for the children’s residential care home ‘Little Acre’. The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principals of Registering the Right Support and other best practise guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary life as any citizen. ‘Registering the Right Support’ CQC policy.

People’s experience of using this service:

Improvements had been made since our last inspection which was in October 2017 to address concerns and breaches of regulations of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. The risks to the quality and safety of the service had been identified and acted upon. People’s records were well organised and checked to make sure that they included up to date and accurate information about people’s needs. Information from audits and quality checks were used to drive continuous improvements to the service people received.

The breach of regulation at the previous inspection had been regarding unsafe staffing levels. The provider had worked with a dependency assessment tool, they had reviewed the recruitment process and employed additional staff to ensure the service had sufficient to meet the needs of people.

The environment was safe, clean and suitable for people’s needs. Staff were well trained, and training had been kept up to date and monitored. Staff had regular supervision with the registered manager.

Staff supported people to enjoy a variety of activities and outings. The registered manager and the staff knew what people liked to do and had consulted with families and the people living at the service.

There were formal and informal ways the registered manager at the service gathered complaints and compliments. The registered manager was keen to act on any concerns promptly and welcomed feedback on all aspects of the service from relatives and professionals.

They were sensitive to equality diversity and human rights, and worked to ensure people’s cultural needs were supported

Planning of care was outcome focussed and showed what people had achieved. This was reflected in all aspects of care planning and reviews including three monthly audit reports.

Rating at last inspection:

Required Improvement, the report was published on 11 December 2017.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned comprehensive inspection based on the rating at the last inspection. We found improvements had been made since our last inspection and the service met the characteristics of good in all areas.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to re-visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.