SummerLodge

Who the service is for

This is a specialist service for people living with a physical disability, learning disability and autistic people. We have 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, choice, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted.

We carried out this assessment from the 11 June till the 19 June 2026. This service was previously rated as good. We carried out this assessment to confirm whether the rating of good remains accurate. This report does not provide detailed information on areas where we found practice continues to meet a good standard. Instead, our findings focus on any areas where the service needs to improve or where we found exceptional practice.

People were supported by enough staff who had the skills and knowledge to support them safely. New staff underwent a recruitment process which included visiting the service to give people an opportunity to meet them and share if they would like to be supported by this member of staff. Staff underwent a full induction programme which included working with more experienced staff and completing training relevant to their role. Staff told us they felt they received enough support from the provider and manager to develop their skills and keep up to date with training. One member of staff said, “I completed face to face first aid and fire training last month. Usually, every month you are made aware of what updates you need to complete.”

People were supported to have their medicines safely. The registered manager told us they had actively been working with the STOMP (stop over medicating people with learning disability or autism) team to review and reduce medicines people had been prescribed over several years. This reduction is important to ensure people have a good quality of life without the effects of over medication and long-term side effects from medicines.

Staff received training in supporting people with medicines and had their competency checked to support people safely. The registered manager completed audits and monitored the safe use of medicines.

Staff had received training in how to safeguard people and understood their responsibilities to report any concerns. The registered manager report safeguarding concerns to the local authority safeguarding team and worked with them to ensure people were safe. A member of staff said, “If I had a concern about safeguarding, I would report to my manager or raise to the provider. If I needed to raise externally, I would report to the council or CQC.”

People were involved in planning how they wished to spend their time and completing activities they enjoyed. Staff worked with people to ensure they had maximum control over their lives whilst putting measures in place to mitigate risks. Staff listened to people and what their preferences for care and support were to enable them to receive person centred support.

Staff enabled people to access the healthcare services. This included advocating on their behalf to ensure they had equal access to services, from routine screening to specialist reviews.

Staff understood people’s different communication styles and used this to communicate with them effectively. Each person had a keyworker who reviewed their care needs with them regularly. Staff encouraged people to share their feedback during 1:1 meetings, community meetings and surveys. The registered manager told us if people needed support with completing surveys, they asked other healthcare professionals such as day centre staff or advocates to support them with this to gain their views on the service.

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. The registered manager told us where people had a DoLS in place they worked closely with their advocates to review healthcare needs regularly to ensure people were getting the access and support to services they needed to live full lives.

We saw staff and people had good relationships and positive interactions together. Staff knew people well and spoke about them positively with regards to how they had achieved certain goals and milestones whilst living at the service. Staff told us how one person was nonverbal when they first started living at the service but now they had started using a few words and were joining in more with others. Staff said this had been achieved by positive role modelling and inclusion with people living at the service.

We found a positive culture at the service of staff wanting to support people to live full and active lives, whilst remaining healthy and happy. We saw the registered manager worked closely with other health professionals to review people’s care and ensure they had everything they needed to be healthy and active. Staff shared the registered manager and provider’s vision. One member of staff said, “We want to support people to be as independent as they can be. To see the changes that happen with our support is wonderful.”

The service had been undergoing a refurbishment to the external and internal environment. During the process people had been involved in personalising their rooms.
The provider shared their plan for the continued works which included updating a kitchen and bathroom.

The registered manager and provider had systems in place to provide good oversight of the service and promote good practice with staff.