Maple Manor

Updated 29 December 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

The inspection team consisted of 2 inspectors. A regulatory coordinator made telephone calls to people’s relatives.

Service and service type

Maple Manor 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. Maple

Manor 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 a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

The inspection was unannounced.

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 used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 2 people who use the service, asking them if they were happy living at the service and if they liked the staff who were supporting them. Where people were unable to talk with us, we observed people’s interactions with staff. We spoke with the registered manager, team leader and 2 members of staff. We reviewed 4 people’s care files and 3 staff personnel files relating to their recruitment. We looked at the provider’s arrangements for managing risk and medicines management, staff training and supervision data. We also looked at the service’s quality assurance arrangements, including the service’s auditing arrangements and the provider’s oversight of the service.

Following our visit to Maple Manor we spoke with 3 people’s relatives about their experience of the service for their family member.

Updated 29 December 2023

About the service

Maple Manor is a residential care home providing the regulated activity of accommodation and personal care to up to 5 people. The service provides support to people who have a learning disability and autistic people. At the time of our inspection there were 5 people using the service.

People’s experience of the service and what we found:

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 assessment and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the polices and systems in the service supported this practice. Staff did everything they could to avoid restraining people. People were able to personalise their rooms. Staff enabled people to access specialist health and social care support in the community. Staff supported people with their medicines to achieve the best possible health outcome.

Right Care

Some systems were not as robust as they could be to manage and mitigate risks relating to the service's fire arrangements. People received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to people’s individual needs. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply this to their day-to-day work. The service had enough staff to meet people’s needs and to keep them safe. People could communicate with staff and understand information given to them because staff supported them consistently and understood their individual communication needs. People’s care, treatment and support plans reflected their range of needs and the risks posed.

Right Culture

Governance arrangements were effective at service level but not at provider level. The provider's arrangements and lack of oversight did not effectively monitor the quality of care provided to drive improvements. The registered manager had the skills, knowledge, and experience to perform their role and a clear understanding of people’s needs but this oversight was lacking at provider level. The provider did not invest in staff by providing them with appropriate training to meet the needs of all people using the service.

Staff turnover was very low, which supported people to receive consistent care from staff who knew them well. Staff ensured risks of a closed culture were minimised so that people received support based on transparency, respect, and inclusivity. The registered manager and team leader were visible in the service, approachable and took a genuine interest in what people, staff, family, and other professionals had to say. Staff felt respected, supported, and valued by the registered manager and team leader.

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 September 2018].

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about the use of unauthorised restraint used at one of the provider’s other services. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of Safe, Effective and Well-Led only. For those key question not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

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

Enforcement [and Recommendations]

We have identified breaches in relation to the management of risks, including those related to the service’s fire arrangements, and the provider’s governance arrangements. We have made a recommendation about staff training.

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

Follow Up

We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will also request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work with the Local Authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.