Waterbury House

“This service supports people living with a learning disability and autistic people.”

“The service uses a household model of care. People had their own bedrooms and bathrooms and shared the kitchen, lounge and dining area’s. One person had a studio flat within the main house. This helped to create a familiar home environment where staff could support people in a more personal and flexible way.”

“We carried out this assessment on 7 October 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 in line with CQC’s ‘Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture’ best practice guidance to judge whether people received respectful, dignified, and person-centred care that promoted their independence, choices, and inclusion in the community. The provider was working in line with national best practice guidance for supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people.”

“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 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. Records showed people, their relatives and those important to them were involved in MCA assessments and best interest decisions. Where people had conditions on their DoLS such as medicine reviews, these were managed in line with requirements.”

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“People were supported by enough suitably skilled staff, with safe recruitment processes in place. Staff received appropriate training to support people’s needs well, including training required to support people with a learning disability. Staff understood their safeguarding responsibilities. They knew how to recognise signs of abuse and how to report concerns appropriately to protect people from harm. Risks were managed in a person-centred way, balancing people’s safety with their independence, choice and control. Risk assessments considered people’s daily living skills, health, behaviour, the environment and access to transport. This supported people to maintain their independence, manage risks safely and continue accessing community facilities and activities. Effective systems were in place to manage medicines safely and maintain a safe environment. Environmental checks were completed, and fire safety systems were regularly serviced. Following 2 recent safety incidents, learning was identified to reduce the risk of recurrence. Staff had applied their fire safety training to evacuate everyone safely during a recent fire at an adjoining property and provided lifesaving first aid to a person during a choking incident. The registered manager praised staff for their actions and calm and professional response to both incidents. They highlighted the “amazing and supportive wrap…”