Pogles Wood

Updated 4 September 2021

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 team consisted of one inspector.

Service and service type

Pogles Wood is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. This service did not provide nursing care.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means 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 announced. We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we wanted to ensure the registered manager would be available to speak with us.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we had received about the service since they registered with us. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We met with the person who used the service and spent some time with them. We observed and listened to how staff interacted with them. We spoke with the registered manager, three members of staff and a visiting health and social care professional.

We observed how the person was supported and reviewed a range of records. This included the person’s care plans, care delivery records and medicine administration records. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service including: staffing rotas, staff recruitment, supervision and training records, premises maintenance records, staff meeting minutes and a range of the provider's policies and procedures.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We requested written feedback from eight health and social care professionals who regularly liaise with the service and received feedback from two of these. We considered their feedback when making our judgements in this report.

Updated 4 September 2021

About the service

Pogles Wood is a care home registered for one person diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorders and learning disabilities. The home was an adapted building in a residential area of Wimborne, Dorset.

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

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 judgement about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

This service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture. The provider's model of care and the layout of the premises maximised people’s choice, control and independence. Care was person-centred and promoted people’s dignity, privacy and human rights. The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of management and care staff ensured the person using the service led their best life.

As a newly registered service Pogles Wood's governance systems were in the process of being introduced and had not yet fully embedded into the home. We found areas for improvement in the overall governance of the home, in recruitment and in the storage of medicines.

Staff knew the person living at Pogles Wood very well. The person received a personalised service from friendly, knowledgeable staff who treated them with patience, kindness, dignity and respect. Health and social care professionals spoke positively of the management and staff team and commented they were happy with the service and level of care given.

The person was supported by a consistent team of staff who knew them well. Appropriate staffing levels were maintained at all times to ensure the person was cared for safely.

People’s healthcare needs were met, and staff supported them to see healthcare professionals when appropriate. Medicines were managed and administered safely. Improvements were needed in the storage of medicines, however the provider acted immediately during the inspection to ensure safe storage of medicines was put in place. People were supported to take their medicines safely by staff who had received the appropriate levels of training.

Staff spoke knowledgeably on how to identify and report abuse and were well supported in their roles. A regular schedule of staff supervision was being implemented and staff had received an interim appraisal. Staff received core and specialist training and support to assist the person in ways to meet their needs.

Risks to the person’s health, safety and well-being were assessed, reviewed and updated.

Communication styles and methods were tailored to the individual person and staff supported people to understand the choices available to them.

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 policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 9 /12/2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was the first planned inspection for this service since the service registered with us.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

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.