Archived: TLC Care Homes Limited (Summer House)

TLC Care Homes Limited (Summer House) is a supported living service providing personal care to approximately 22 people. Support is primarily provided to people with learning disabilities and autistic people. People live in individual flats and shared houses. The service is currently divided into three distinct clusters, South (Essex and Southend), West (Hertfordshire and West Essex) and Mid (Essex and Suffolk). Some people live in the grounds of Blamsters Farm, in Halstead, where there are also offices and training rooms.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.

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

We received largely positive feedback from people and their families, staff and external professionals about the care people received from TLC Care Homes Limited (Summer House). We observed people were at ease when interacting with staff.

There had been significant challenges to the service over recent years. In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic and staffing shortages, there were ongoing changes at senior management level. The two registered managers were committed and enthusiastic, however the management structure meant change was not always implemented consistently. In particular, this had affected communication, the roll out of electronic records and the oversight of information from quality assurance checks. We were told by the provider that planned improvements would address these concerns, however further time was needed to ensure improvements were implemented effectively.

Due to the level of commitment by senior and care staff, people experienced minimal impact from the issues at management level. People were supported by small clusters of staff who knew them well and were committed to providing safe, personalised care.

Staff supported people to manage risk safely. There was a focus on maximising independence and minimising restrictions. There was an open culture where safeguarding people was a priority. Learning from mistakes was used to improve the care people received. There were enough safely recruited staff to support people.

People received support to take their medicines safely. Staff worked with people to minimise the use of medicines when they were distressed. The provider had effective measures to minimise the spread of infection, especially in relation to COVID-19.

Staff worked well with professionals to promote people’s health and wellbeing. People were supported to eat and drink in line with their preferences.

Staff received the required training to meet people’s varied needs. The provider was supporting stagg to develop an increased understanding of how to support people who became distressed.

People had a say in the care they received. Care was personalised and adapted in response to changing needs and preferences. Staff supported people to develop their skills and interests. People received information in a way they could understand. People and their representatives felt able to complain and be confident their concerns would be listened to and acted upon.

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.

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 service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture. However, there was room to improve how they reviewed and maximised people’s right to live an integrated life in their local community.

Right support:

The model of care promoted people’s choice, control and independence. However, some of the settings people lived in were not fully integrated into the local community and did not meet best practice outlined in Right support, right care, right culture. Some people had lived in these locations for years and were very settled. The provider agreed to work with people and other parties, such as landlords, to consider what measures could be taken to promote a more inclusive physical environment across all the settings.

Right care:

Care was person-centred and promoted people’s dignity, privacy and human rights. People were treated as individuals and care was provided flexibly in line with their preferences.

Right culture:

The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of staff and management ensured people using services lead confident and empowered lives. Despite the physical limitations of some of the settings people lived in, staff promote an inclusive life where people were encouraged to be part of their local community.

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 23 July 2020 and this is its first inspection. The service had been previously registered under a different registration.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection of a newly registered service. The timing of the inspection was prompted in part by concerns received about some of the providers other supported living services. A decision was made for us to inspect TLC Care Homes Limited (Summer House) to assure ourselves people were receiving safe, good quality care.

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.