The Rowans

“At the time of the assessment, 5 people were living at the home.”

“Who this service is for:”

“The service supports people with a learning disability including autistic people.”

“We assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed autistic people and people with a learning disability respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted.”

“Our view of the service :”

“We carried out this assessment on 1 August 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.”

“Risks were identified, assessed and managed, and staff understood the risks associated with people’s care. Staff told us they anticipated risks before they happened. One member of staff told us, “You risk assess every day, every time you go out with someone. You are constantly assessing the risks in the community.” The registered manager told us, “We do try to expose them to as absolutely as many risks as we all take but we realise that there are certain areas that will always need restrictions to keep people safe.””

“Staff understood their responsibilities in safeguarding people from abuse and neglect. One member of staff told us, “We have a whistleblowing system in place. We have the [safeguarding] policy, and we follow that step by step.” The registered manager told us, “Staff are all on board with the safeguarding, they're all up to date with their training.””

“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. People were not subject to unlawful or excessive restrictions they had choice, control and freedom over their lives. One member of staff told us, “We judge everyone has capacity unless proven otherwise. [Registered manager] does the capacity assessments and best interest discussions.””

“Incidents and concerns were reported and reviewed, and learning was used to improve practice. Staff completed ABC forms which is an observation tool used to track and analyse people’s distress incidents. The registered manager told us, “When we have an incident, there's a debrief, if there's any injuries, incident logs are filled out, it's escalated to the relevant levels. Parents are informed, so it's all very transparent.””

“Rotas were planned carefully to ensure people were supported by the appropriate numbers of staff. This included where more staff were required when people required additional staff to support them when they went out to activities. A member of staff told us, “There is a core group [of staff] which is enough.””

“Staff were provided with an effective induction which included a phased approach to introducing new staff to people. Meeting staff over time allowed people to get familiar with new faces and voices at their own pace. Staff received appropriate training and supervision. One member of staff told us, “The training is good, we have e-learning and face to face.””

“Staff worked with health and social care professionals where needed, supporting good outcomes…”