Archived: Thornbury House

Updated 9 January 2020

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

One inspector carried out this inspection.

Service and service type

Thornbury House 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 we looked at both during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with CQC. 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

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

Before the inspection we looked at information we held about the service. This included the last inspection report and the provider’s plan of action to improve. The law requires providers to notify us of certain events that happen during the running of a service. We reviewed notifications sent since the last inspection.

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return before this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with two people who used the service and a visiting social care professional. We spoke with the registered manager and two members of staff. We spoke with the provider’s nominated individual by telephone. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We reviewed a range of records. This included one person’s care records and medication records. We looked at one staff file in relation to recruitment. We looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audit reports, surveys and accident reports.

After the inspection

We reviewed information sent by the provider the day after our visit.

Updated 9 January 2020

About the service

Thornbury House is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to six people with a learning disability or autism. At the time of our visit there were five people living at the home, which is an older, adapted building in a residential area of Southampton.

The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with a learning disability or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.

The home was similar to neighbouring properties in size. There were no identifying signs, intercom, cameras, industrial bins or anything else outside to indicate it was a care home. Staff did not wear anything that suggested they were care staff when coming and going with people.

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

The provider had made necessary improvements to make sure the premises and equipment used were safe. People received care and support that was safe. People were protected from avoidable harm and abuse. There were enough staff deployed to support people safely. The provider met good practice standards with respect to managing medicines and preventing the spread of infection.

The provider had made improvements to the management and quality systems in use, but did not have an overall strategic improvement plan in place. There was focus on meeting people’s individual needs and preferences. The provider worked in cooperation with other organisations and worked to improve the service people received. This was supported by effective management and quality systems appropriate to the size of the service.

The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence.

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

Rating at last inspection (and update)

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (report published 7 June 2019) with two breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 16 April 2019. We found two breaches of legal requirements. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve the areas of Safe care and treatment and Good governance.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions safe and well-led which contain those requirements.

We used the ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

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

Follow up

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