Highfield House

The service was developed and designed before Registering the Right Support came into existence. Despite this, the service was managed 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 learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence.

People's opportunities to follow their goals and live as full a life as possible had been impacted by COVID-19. The service had reviewed restrictions on people's activities and movements in line with national guidance and additional internal activities had been set up to ensure people were protected from feelings of isolation.

Highfield House is a large home, bigger than most domestic style properties. The negative impact of the size of the service on people was mitigated by the buildings design fitting into the residential area and the other large domestic homes of a similar size. There were deliberately no identifying signs to indicate it was a care home. Staff were also discouraged from wearing anything that suggested they were care staff when supporting people.

Staff told us they felt supported and that the new manager was leading an improving service. Staff told us the culture was open, and we saw evidence people were supported to achieve positive outcomes. Under this new leadership structure, the services visions and values are being reviewed with a focus on person centred care and developing a culture that is fair and open. More time is needed to ensure that these changes have the desired effect on staff morale and service culture.

People were supported to take their medicines as prescribed. Staff received training to enable them to administer medicines and processes were in place to ensure staff were competent, however, the system of auditing medicines stock needed to be improved to ensure the audit sheet matched available stock.

The service was clean, tidy and odour free. There were robust infection control processes being observed and systems were in place to reduce the risk of any visitors to the service in relation to COVID 19.

The service provided sufficient numbers of trained staff to meet people's needs. People's relatives told us the service was safe and homely.

Staff had received training to ensure they could recognise the signs of abuse and told us how they would report these. Records showed people had risk assessments in place and that these were reviewed regularly.

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. People's capacity to make decisions had been assessed and where required, external health professionals were involved in planning support strategies to meet people's mental health needs.