Polesworth Group Pooley Heights

“Who the service is for”

“Pooley Heights is a specialist service for people with a physical disability, learning disability and autistic people. We have 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. We were assured the service met the principles of ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ and people received safe, person-centred and outcomes focused care and support.”

“Key Findings”

“We carried out this assessment on 11 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.”

“The service had a strong focus on meeting people’s individual needs in a personalised way in line with the ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance.”

“People were supported by staff trained in safeguarding people from abuse and staff understood the importance of speaking up if they had any concerns. One staff member told us, “I would report any concerns about abuse immediately to the manager.” Peoples’ identified risks were assessed and guidance to mitigate risks was in place for staff to refer to within people’s individual plans of care.”

“Environmental risks had been assessed. Fire safety drills took place, and staff knew what action to take in an emergency situation. The bungalow had 1 bedroom specifically designed to meet the needs of people who used a wheelchair. Lower-level sink and mirrors within a ‘wet-room’ ensuite promoted independence. This bedroom had patio doors providing a safe exit of the home for a person using a wheelchair. If a person was in bed, staff could wheel their bed outside and this was reflected in personal emergency evacuation plans.”

“Staff had been recruited in a safe way and sufficient numbers of staff were employed. The registered manager told us, “As a respite service, we have different numbers of people staying at different times and each have varying needs of support. We adjust staffing numbers on shift to meet the needs of people here.””

“Staff felt supported by the registered manager and wider management team. One staff member told us, “I am new working here and the manager has been supportive. I have not been pressured into doing anything. I was anxious doing my first sleep-in night shift, but I knew how to contact the on-call manager if needed and it all went okay.” Staff told us they always had support during lone-working sleep-in shifts. One staff member told us, “Even if our own manager is not the one on call, we can still phone them and they will come in if needed. That’s happened in the past.””

“Staff were trained to give them the skills and knowledge they needed for their role. One staff member told us, “The training is good, we do online sessions and some face-to-face sessions.” Overall, staff followed their training and followed the provider’s policies and procedures. However, the provider needed to make some improvement, in their checks on staff, to ensure staff consistently followed what they had been taught in training and what policies…”