23 June 2021
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Stepping Stones is a residential care home providing personal care to three adults with a learning disability, mental health condition or autistic people at the time of the inspection. The home can support up to four people and was provided in a newly built house. One person had moved out of the home since our last inspection on 7 May 2021. The provider was not able to move anyone new into the home as we had imposed a condition on their registration to restrict any new admissions to the home.
The home was established for short- or medium-term accommodation to assess and provide specialist support for people living with a learning disability or autism. The aim is for people to develop their skills and independence to move onto other appropriate long-term accommodation.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People had been harmed and remained at risk of further harm. Incidents of psychological and physical abuse between people were not always reported to the local safeguarding authority and the Care Quality Commission.
Incidents were not reviewed by the registered manager or provider to ensure action was taken to learn from these and prevent them reoccurring. Care plans and risk assessments were not updated following incidents. Action was not taken to ensure people’s safety.
Staff did not have the skills, knowledge and guidance to support people during incidents of behaviour that challenged. This resulted in people’s anxieties and behaviour escalating and put people and staff at risk of harm.
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right Support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.
This was a targeted inspection that considered risk management and safeguarding under our key question of Safe. Based on our inspection of these areas the service was not able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.
Right support:
• The model of care and setting had not maximised people’s choice, control and
Independence.
Right care:
• Care was not person-centred and did not promote people’s dignity, privacy and human
Rights. Staff lacked understanding of how to support behaviour that challenged in a positive way.
Right culture:
• Ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff did not ensure people led confident, inclusive and empowered lives. The lack of understanding by the provider, registered manager and the resulting attitude and values displayed by staff had led to a negative culture in the home. This had a negative impact on people’s self-esteem, confidence, human rights and quality of life.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was Inadequate (published 17 June 2021) and there were multiple breaches of regulations. We imposed conditions on the location which meant the provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection not enough improvement had been made and the provider was still in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
We undertook this targeted inspection to check on a specific concern we had about risk management following incidents. The overall rating for the service has not changed following this targeted inspection and remains Inadequate.
CQC have introduced targeted inspections to follow up on Warning Notices or to check specific concerns. They do not look at an entire key question, only the part of the key question we are specifically concerned about. Targeted inspections do not change the rating from the previous inspection. This is because they do not assess all areas of a key question.
Enforcement
We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.
We have identified continued breaches in relation to safe care and safeguarding people from abuse and improper treatment at this inspection.
Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.
Follow up
Following this inspection, we worked closely with commissioning authorities to ensure people were safeguarded from on-going harm. Three people were supported to move out of Stepping Stones. There is currently no one living at Stepping Stones.
Special Measures
The overall rating for this service is ‘Inadequate’ and the service therefore remains in ‘special measures’. This means we will keep the service under review and, if we do not propose to cancel the provider’s registration, we will re-inspect within 6 months to check for significant improvements.
If the provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe. And there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures. This will mean we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions of the registration.
For adult social care services, the maximum time for being in special measures will usually be no more than 12 months. If the service has demonstrated improvements when we inspect it. And it is no longer rated as inadequate for any of the five key questions it will no longer be in special measures.