Maurice Edelman House

We assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities. The provider was meeting the principles of right support, right care, right culture, and this was strongly reflected in people’s care, support and outcomes.

People received safe, person-centred care from staff who knew them well. People, relatives and professionals gave consistently positive feedback about the service. Staff supported people to make choices about their everyday lives, maintain relationships and access healthcare, education, activities and their local community.

Staff understood people’s individual needs, risks and communication needs. They worked with relevant health and social care professionals to support people safely, including when people required modified diets or other specialist support. Staff received support, induction and training from the leaders to carry out their roles.

Leaders and staff responded promptly and appropriately when people raised concerns, using learning to strengthen practice.

At the time of assessment, the service had a flu outbreak and managed it appropriately. People were supported to access flu and COVID-19 vaccinations through their GP.

Professionals described the service as responsive, accommodating and safe. They said staff were welcoming, offered people choice and worked well with others involved in people’s care.

Staff understood their safeguarding responsibilities and knew how to recognise and report concerns to leaders. The provider had safeguarding procedures in place, referred concerns to the relevant local authority and used incidents to identify learning. People and relatives told us they felt safe and confident raising concerns.

There were enough suitably skilled and experienced staff to meet people’s needs. People and relatives described the staff team as consistent and available. The provider followed safe recruitment processes and completed appropriate checks before staff began working at the service. Staff received induction, training and support to carry out their roles.

People can only be deprived of their liberty to receive care and treatment with appropriate legal authority. In care homes, this can be done through a procedure called the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), which is part of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). We checked whether the service was working within the principles of the MCA and how they managed DoLS within the service. We found that staff and management worked within the MCA. DoLS authorisations were appropriately applied for and overseen. People were not subject to unlawful or excessive restrictions they had choice, control and freedom over their lives.

We identified a small number of areas where improvements were required. Leaders needed to ensure all relevant safeguarding incidents were consistently notified to CQC, support staff to complete the few remaining training modules and complete planned work to upgrade window restrictors and refresh parts of the environment. The provider responded positively and constructively to our feedback regarding those shortfalls. They shared their internal service improvement plan with details of how they will address the concerns.