Orla House

“Who the service is for”

“Orla House is a specialist service for people with a learning disability and autistic people.”

“The service uses a household model of care. People have their own private space and share a kitchen, lounge, quiet conservatory area, and dining area. People also had access to a large secure garden. This helps create a familiar home environment where staff can support people in a more personal and flexible way.”

“We carried out this assessment on 22 to 24 September 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 warm and compassionate staff who 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 and people had the right level of support to ensure they could do the things that were important to them and for them. One staff member said, “It’s a home from home, none of us wear uniform so they (people supported) don’t feel like we’re on a different level from them, we take them out and do things that any family member or friend would do, we try to be that person for them, it’s their home and that’s what we want them to feel like.””

“There were effective systems in place to safeguard people from abuse. Risk was assessed and actions were put in place to reduce risks which was discussed with the people themselves where appropriate to do so, relatives and professionals. The staff team had a good knowledge of safeguarding, signs to be aware of that may indicate a concern and how to escalate concerns externally if required.”

“Throughout the assessment the registered manager, care manager and team were responsive to any issues highlighted and put measures in place to address them immediately. We identified some issues in the environment including a toilet frame that was rusty at the feet, but this was replaced immediately by a spare that was available in the home. We found freestanding wardrobes were not secured in place however there was no risk related to this at the home and the registered manager had included this in an environmental risk assessment. While the home was kept clean and there were systems in place to maintain this, we identified some infection prevention and control matters. The registered manager was responsive to feedback about this and input from the NHS infection prevention and control team. The prior arrangements had been in place to support a more homely environment for people, but the registered manager fully understood the reasons for the improvements and provided assurance that this would be addressed. The entire team demonstrated a strong desire to learn and improve from feedback and regularly sought feedback from relatives and people living at Orla House. The care manager told us the home’s minibuses no longer had the home’s name on and why, “We used to have 2 white minibuses with the names of home on. We had a residents meeting and one of the residents said we don’t want the name on the bus, we don’t want people to know it’s from a home.” This evidenced people had a voice and their opinions and wishes were respected.”

“Care plans were thorough and included…”