Seeleys House Short Breaks Centre

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. 'Right support, right care, right culture' is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Relatives described the staff as "excellent," "approachable, caring, efficient, interested in who they are looking after," "Professional and friendly".

Right Support: The service gave people care and support in a safe, clean, well-equipped, well-furnished and well-maintained environment that met their sensory and physical needs. Staff supported people to make decisions following best practice in decision-making. Staff communicated with people in ways that met their needs. Staff supported people with their medicines in a way that promoted their independence and achieved the best possible health outcome.

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.

Right Care: Staff promoted equality and diversity in their support for people. They understood people's cultural needs and provided culturally appropriate care. People received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people's privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to their individual needs. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. People who had individual ways of communicating, using body language, sounds, Makaton (a form of sign language), pictures and symbols could interact comfortably with staff and others involved in their care and support because staff had the necessary skills to understand them.

Right Culture: People received good quality care, support and treatment because trained staff and specialists could meet their needs and wishes. People were supported by staff who understood best practice in relation to the wide range of strengths, impairments or sensitivities people with a learning disability and/or autistic people may have. This meant people received compassionate and empowering care that was tailored to their needs. Staff evaluated the quality of support provided to people, involving the person, their families and other professionals as appropriate.

The staff and management team worked hard to create an inclusive, supportive and caring environment for people. The service was providing personalised care which promoted independence in people. Staff told us they enjoyed working at the service. Comments included, "Everyone who works at Seeleys is so passionate about care and constantly looking for ways for us to improve our client's overall experience" and "I love working at Seeleys, I like that we get the opportunity to get to know our clients and spend quality time with them, they get to choose what they would like to do with us on a weekend and we have fun." A third member of staff told us "I like the fact that we have a diverse team and that each individual staff member brings something different, and we all help each other out. Any issues are dealt with in a timely manner through staff meetings and are usually easily resolved."