Herons Lodge

People's experience of the 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 judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

Following the last inspection, the provider had made improvements, and this had a positive impact and outcomes for people living at the service. This was confirmed by feedback from partner agencies, relatives, staff and by reviewing internal systems and procedures.

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 did not support this practice.

Right support: Guidance for staff of how to meet people's individual care and support needs, including actions to mitigate known risks had been reviewed and updated. Information was detailed and reflective of people's routines and preferences.

Safeguarding and whistleblowing procedures were regularly discussed with staff to ensure they felt confident to act upon any concerns. An internal investigation had also been completed to ensure people's individual daily and night routines and preferences were respected and met.

People received their medicines safely. Staff responsible for administering medicines had received additional training and their competency assessed. Fire risks had been reviewed and action taken to mitigate risks. This included increasing the number of night staff available.

Right Care: Staff deployment and recruitment had been reviewed and improved upon. This improved safety and provided greater opportunities for people to lead active and fulfilling lives. Staff were kind, caring and knew people well. Relatives were positive and spoke highly of the staff.

Right Culture: The provider's systems, processes and oversight of the service that assessed, monitored and reviewed quality and safety had been improved upon. However, further time was required for these to

become fully embedded and sustained.

Staff had completed refresher training and received opportunities to discuss their work, development and training needs and further training and support was planned. Internal staff communication systems had been reviewed and improved upon.

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