About the service:

Preston Drove is residential home that provides accommodation and care for up to five people who attend St Johns College. St Johns is a special educational needs (SEN) school and specialist college that provides education, care and medical therapy to young people aged 7 to 25, who have a wide range of complex learning disabilities, including autism and related autistic spectrum conditions (ASC). The provider refers to people using the service as learners, which they will be referred to throughout the report. At the time of inspection Preston Drove provided care and support to five learners, for up to 52 weeks per year. Preston Drove was situated within the local community and was compliant with the values underpinned in Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. The location of Preston Drove offered learners easy access to neighbouring shops, take ways and public transport facilities to the local and wider community services.

People’s experience of using this service:

• Staff told us they felt supported by management to carry out their role effectively, however records we reviewed highlighted staff had not received regular supervision in line with the providers own policy.

• The provider had comprehensive quality assurance processes in place to monitor, review and drive improvements across the service, however this did not address monitoring of staff supervision schedules.

• Learners were supported to receive their medicines safety with support from appropriately trained staff for the role.

• Risks to learners and the environment were effectively managed though robust assessments and people were appropriately protected from the risk of abuse and avoidable harm.

• We received positive feedback from relatives and a social care professional that learners received a good standard of care and support at Preston Drove.

• Learners were supported to receive personalised care to meet their needs and care records were person-centred to reflect people’s likes, dislikes and preferences.

• Learners’ rights and freedoms were upheld and staff treated people with dignity and respect. The provider took a proactive approach to inclusivity and staff received additional training to promote antidiscrimination.

• Where people were identified to lack capacity to make particular decisions around their care and treatment, we saw steps had been taken by the provider to record individual assessments of capacity.

• Where learners required additional support to manage anxious, distressed and heightened behaviour, we saw robust care planning and proactive support offered.

• Staff supported learners to build on their independent living skills and learners were encouraged to participate in daily living tasks with appropriate support.

• Learners were supported to maintain good diet and nutrition, and staff were flexible to accommodate people’s preferences, cultural and religious needs.

• Learners had access to a range of activities to meet their interests and were supported to access the local community and facilities throughout their college and home routines.

• The service met the characteristics of Good across all areas. More information can be found to evidence this in the full report.

Rating at last inspection:

This service was previously rated as Outstanding overall at the last comprehensive inspection. This report was published on 20 September 2016.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the previous inspection rating.

Follow Up:

There is no required follow up to this inspection. However, we will continue to monitor the service and will inspect the service again based on the information we receive.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

We inspected Preston Drove on 19, 20 and 21 April 2016 and it was an announced inspection.

Preston Drove is a residential unit providing accommodation and care to five young adults who attend St John’s School and College. St. John’s is a special educational needs (SEN) school and specialist college that provides education, care and medical therapy to young people aged 7 to 25 years. St John’s supports young people who have a wide range of complex learning disabilities, such as autism and related autistic spectrum conditions (ASC) and young people who have special needs resulting from behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD). Preston Drove is based in Brighton and is a 52 weeks a year service, meaning that people can live at the service all year and not just within term time. The provider has five separate residential locations in the Brighton and Hove area. This report relates to Preston Drove, and at the time of our inspection, there were five young men living at the service. The provider refers to people using the service as 'learners', and they will be referred to as learners in this report.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act and associated Regulations about how the service is run. The registered manager had oversight of the running of the service but had delegated the day to day operation of the service to a manager.

Learners living at Preston Drove were supported with exceptional care, dedication and understanding. Transitions for learners to and from their care setting at college was bespoke and planned thoroughly. For learners with very complex emotional needs a great deal of planning and preparation was involved. By liaising and co-ordinating with relatives, other professionals and authorities, staff and the environment were prepared for each individual learner’s preferences and routines. Staff worked closely and co-operatively through partnership working to make sure learners had access to ongoing support and to make sure when they moved on, the appropriate arrangements had been made for them. A relative told us “They went to a lot of time and effort to get this right.” Another told us “The assessment and induction were very thorough”.

Learners were involved in the planning and reviewing of their care and discussed and shaped the activities they wished to take part in. One learner told us “I can make my own choices. Like tonight they asked me what I wanted to do and I said, buy a DVD, and that is what we are going to do”. They were assisted innovatively to learn how to manage their anxieties and emotions. These strategies had a positive impact, not just on individual learners who were less anxious, but to all learners because the atmosphere in the service was more relaxed.

Learner’s experiences of their care and support was overwhelmingly positive. A learner commented “I love it here, it’s better than where I was before, it’s so different”. Another told us “The staff are awesome”. And a relative told us, “Staff support him really well”.

Staff worked proactively to help learners to make choices and decisions about their care and lifestyle. They supported them to be as independent as possible, find work and learn new skills. A relative told us “They monitor what is safe for him to do independently. The location is suitable for him to go to the gym on his own; this was built up gradually but he’s doing more and more independent travel”. Another commented “They have been supporting him towards becoming independent all the way through”.

Learners took part in socially inclusive activities in their local communities and at the college. Some were supported to attend and perform at live music and performing arts events by staf