St Edwards Close

The following is CQC's published account of its assessment, published 21 October 2024. References to “we” mean CQC. It describes findings at that time.

St Edwards Close is a residential care home for 12 people with autism. The service consists of two houses, the Willows and Conifers and each can accommodate six people. In each house there are single bedrooms and people have shared use of a lounge, activity room, kitchen and bathroom facilities. There is an enclosed garden and courtyard for people to access. There were 10 people using the service at the time of our inspection. The assessment started on 8 July 2024. A site visit to gather people’s experiences and observe care practices was carried out on 16 and 23 August 2024. The assessment was carried out by one inspector, one assessor and an Expert by Experience (ExE). An ExE is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. As part of the assessment we looked at 8 quality statements. In Safe: involving people to manage risks; safe environments; safe and effective staffing; infection control and medicines. In Responsive: person centred care and in Well-led: Capable and compassionate leadership and governance, management and sustainability. We spoke with 2 people, 6 people’s relatives, the registered manager, a deputy manager, 5 staff and 1 health and social care professional. We reviewed a range of records. This included 4 people's care records, medicines records and 4 staff files as well as other records relating to how the service was managed. People used different ways of communicating, including using vocalisations, facial expressions and body language. We spent time with people, observing their interactions with staff. The home had a registered manager in post. At the last inspection in February 2020 we rated this service ‘Good’ overall. However we carried out this inspection because we received concerns from a local authority relating to some aspects of the service. Following this responsive assessment, the service has received an overall rating of good for all the quality statements assessed.