York’s ‘short breaks’ service for children with physical disabilities, learning disabilities and autism rated ‘good

City of York Council’s Short Break’s service has been rated ‘good’ by independent inspectors.

The service, which provides flexible personal care and support to families with children with physical disabilities, learning disabilities and autism at weekends, evenings and in the school holidays, was inspected by the Care Quality Commissions in January 2019.

The inspection rated the service in five key areas, assessing whether  it was safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. All five aspects of the service were rated as ‘good’.

The inspection highlighted that Community Short Break Workers have a good understanding of children’s needs and are kind and caring. It also reported that they understand the importance of respecting children’s dignity and upholding their right to privacy.

Inspectors recognised that children are supported to live fulfilled meaningful lives and that information was available to ensure that they could access the community, events, and activities with minimal restrictions in a planned way for their maximum benefit and enjoyment.

The report also highlighted the positive work Community Short Break Workers do to help children learn new skills and take on new challenges, for example, to eat in cafes and restaurants.

Other professionals also reported the service to be effective and recognised that it was valued by parents for the support it gave to their families.
(more…)

Gale Lane care home slammed by Care Quality Commission

Rated as inadequate and now in “special measures”

South Park care home report

An inspection of the South Park care home took place in August.  It was the first since concerns were raised following an inspection in 2014. Then several breaches of regulations had been found. By August these had mostly been addressed but 6 more issues were discovered.

The care home has had a chequered history

The report can be read here

The report says, “The service was not safe. There were insufficient numbers of suitably qualified, skilled and experienced persons employed in the service to meet people’s needs. The registered provider had employed a number of agency staff to fill the staff vacancies, but people who used the service said they did not feel safe when these workers were on duty and we observed some unsafe care practices during our inspection”

It goes on to say, “.We found problems with the cleanliness and hygiene within the service. In particular there was a significant and unpleasant odour in three bedrooms, two sluices and a number of bathing facilities on both units”

The full report ca be downloaded from here .

The South Park facility accommodates 80 residents.

South Park has 6 months in which to make “significant improvements” and will be inspected again shortly

Another home, Haisthorpe House on Holgate Road, was also rated as inadequate by Inspectors