Mayfield Road

Updated 7 November 2023

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.

Inspection team

This inspection was undertaken by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

Mayfield Road 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. Mayfield Road is a care home without 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 not a registered manager in post. The provider was in the process of recruiting a new manager. At the time of our inspection an interim manager was in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last 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 used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

Many of the people using the service had limited verbal communication skills. However, we undertook observations about how they spent their time and interactions between them and staff to obtain feedback on their experiences at the service. We spoke with 4 relatives and 6 staff, including the interim manager, the peripatetic service manager, a senior support worker and 3 support workers. We reviewed 3 people’s care records and records relating to medicines management, staffing and management of the service.

Updated 7 November 2023

About the service

Mayfield Road is a residential care home providing personal care to up to 12 people. The service provides support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. The service also specialised in supporting people with epilepsy. At the time of our inspection there were 12 people using the service.

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.

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

Right Support:

People did not have a fulfilling and meaningful everyday life. People were not supported to develop skills, including independent living skills. Whilst some people were supported to attend activities that supported their physical health, for example, hydrotherapy, there was not a programme of individually tailored activities for people. This was something the management team were aware of and had plans to develop.

The service did not give people care and support in a safe, clean, well equipped, well-furnished and well-maintained environment that met their sensory and physical needs. People did not benefit from an interactive and stimulating environment. A refurbishment and redecoration programme had recently begun throughout the service. A new kitchen was being installed and some bedroom furniture had been replaced.

Staff enabled people to access specialist health care support in the community. Staff supported people with their medicines.

Right Care:

People did not always receive kind and compassionate care, and people were not always treated well and with dignity. People’s care and support plans reflected their range of physical health needs, but did not address their wants, interests or preferences in order to promote their wellbeing and enjoyment of life. People were not consistently supported to stay safe, due to concerns raised about the recording of epilepsy care and environmental safety concerns. Nevertheless, staff were aware of how to support people in the event of a seizure.

There were times when the service was short of staff. Staff did not always have the skills and knowledge to meet people’s needs, as they had not completed all their mandatory training. Additional training was scheduled to be carried out.

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.

Right Culture:

People and those important to them were not always involved in planning their care. Staff did not always evaluate and review the quality of support provided at regular intervals or in line with changes in people’s needs. Relatives did not feel their views were always listened to and acted upon. However, the provider’s quality team had started to take action to rebuild this relationship. The management team were also aware that people’s care needed reviewing and they were organising with people’s funding authorities for care reviews to take place.

Governance processes were not always adhered to and were not sufficiently completed at times to identify and address concerns in a timely manner. The provider was starting to take action to improve the quality of the service. The provider’s quality team and senior management team had been in to review the service. A comprehensive service improvement plan was in place. The interim manager had begun to make improvements. The provider was in the process of recruiting a permanent dedicated manager for this service.

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 13 December 2017). We undertook a targeted inspection in January 2022 looking at infection prevention and control procedures.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to person centred care, dignity and respect, safe care and treatment, staffing, good governance and the environment at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.