About the service:

Dimensions Somerset Newholme is a residential care home for people with learning disabilities and/or autism that was providing personal care for up to eight people. At the time of inspection there were eight people living at the home. Most people had a range of complex needs and most had limited verbal communication.

People’s experience of using this service:

This care service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion.

Although people were happy and relatives told us their family member was safe we found people were not always being kept safe. Systems to reduce the risk to people in the event of a fire were not consistently being used. Medicines were not being audited and some management of medicines was not in line with best practice. Not all risks had been identified or ways to mitigate them put in place.

Most people in the service lacked capacity to make specific decisions and there were systems in place to make them. However, when people were deprived of their liberty systems were not in place to ensure it was lawful. People were involved in making choices about their day to day care and these were respected by staff.

The provider had completed a range of audits to identify concerns and issues at the service. However, there had been a large amount of recent changes in staffing and management. This meant the improvement plan in place was still being worked through. Staff were starting to feel supported by the new manager.

People had care plans which were personalised and provided a range of information for staff to use to support their needs and wishes. There were good links with other health and social care professionals. Staffing levels had been an issue due to all the changes occuring. Staff and the provider had worked hard to prevent impact to the people.

People were supported by kind and caring staff who knew them incredibly well. Staff respected people’s privacy and dignity throughout the inspection.

More information about the detailed findings can be found below.

Rating at last inspection:

This is the first inspection for this service since it changed providers.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the service’s new registration.

Enforcement:

We have made a recommendation about staff training in line with people’s assessments.

We identified one breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 around safe care and treatment.

Details of action we have asked the provider to take can be found at the end of this report.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.