Acacia House - Peterborough

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 that most people take for granted.

Staff supported people safely and were trained and knew how to report concerns, including safeguarding concerns. People’s needs were assessed and updated to help ensure records held to guide staff were current. People’s known risks, such as being at a higher risk of falling, or medicines support had been assessed and were monitored by staff. This helped to reduce the risk of harm where possible. Staff encouraged people to take positive risks including the promotion of people’s life skills and activities and interests in the community. There were enough trained and skilled staff to support people safely. The environment of the service and garden were maintained to help ensure they remained safe, and staff followed good infection control procedures. Staff liaised with external health and social care professionals to make sure that specialist advice and guidance was sought when needed. This helped ensure that people stayed as healthy as possible. Staff understood the importance of supporting people in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and encouraged people to make their own day to day choices. Staff supported people to achieve their individual goals. This included learning new life skills to promote their independence. People’s care records were detailed and guided staff on how to support people safely. Staff supported people with kindness and respect whilst protecting their right to privacy and dignity.

The management team had a good oversight of the service. Audits, and quality monitoring had identified areas such as staff recording, as requiring improvement. There was no registered manager at the service during this assessment. There was a positive culture at the service and people were seen to be happy and staff told us they enjoyed their roles. People’s relatives told us they were confident to raise any concerns and although they had not yet had to do so, they felt confident that they would be listened to.