Autism Support and Care

“The service uses a household model of care. People have their own private space and share a kitchen, lounge, activity room, sensory room and dining area. This helps create a familiar home environment where staff can support people in a more personal and flexible way. There are individual flats on the upper floor but there was no one living in this part of the building at the time of our assessment.”

“We carried out this assessment on 30 June and 14 July 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. 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.”

“People were supported by staff who were recruited safely and had the right skills, values and training to safely support them even during periods of distress. There were enough staff available both day and night. There were effective systems in place to safeguard people from abuse. Risk was assessed and actions were put in place to reduce risks which were discussed with the people themselves, relatives and professionals.”

“Throughout the assessment the registered manager and team were responsive to any issues highlighted and put measures in place to address them if it wasn’t something they had already identified. We identified some issues in the environment including a wardrobe that had come loose from the wall which was reattached on the day and some missing window restrictors which were ordered that day and, at that time, no one was living in this part of the building. The registered manager was aware of some other environmental concerns around the decor and had an action plan of work to be completed. They demonstrated a strong desire to learn and improve from feedback. We noted some person centred details were missing from care plans, the registered manager was in the process of reviewing all care plans and we saw evidence of reviews and where updates had already been completed. Care plans included details on their life history, circles of support and what people could do independently, referring to these as their strengths, and what they required support with as well as any restrictions in place.”

“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. The person was not subject to unlawful or excessive restrictions they had choice, control and freedom over their lives.”

“Individual goals were identified and these were reviewed and information was updated to demonstrate progress in achieving people’s goals. One staff…”