CQC report explained · a residential care home, run by North East Autism Society

Thornhill

21 Thornhill Park, Sunderland, SR2 7LA

Goodpublished 4 October 2023, 2 years ago

Rated Good: inspectors found the service performing well and meeting their expectations.

The five questions inspectors ask

Safe?: Good; People were protected from abuse and avoidable harm. Inspectors found safe recruitment, enough staff, well-managed medicines and appropriate infection control arrangements.
Effective?: Good; This area was not inspected during this focused inspection. Its previous rating was carried forward when calculating the overall rating.
Caring?: Good; This area was not inspected during this focused inspection. Its previous rating was carried forward when calculating the overall rating.
Responsive?: Good; This area was not inspected during this focused inspection. Its previous rating was carried forward when calculating the overall rating.
Well-led?: Good; The management team was approachable and used audits, feedback and meetings to monitor and improve the quality of care.

The latest report, explained

What inspectors found, October 2023

Thornhill is rated Good; inspectors found safe, person-centred care and effective management.

This was a focused inspection on 5 July 2023. One inspector checked the Safe and Well-led areas, including staffing, medicines, infection control, records, audits and how the home was managed.

The home was rated Good for Safe and Well-led. Inspectors found enough trained staff, safe recruitment, good medicines management and suitable risk assessments. People and relatives gave positive feedback, and people said they felt safe.

The home supported people's choices, independence, dignity and access to the community. Care records were person-centred and up to date. The overall rating stayed Good, as the ratings for areas not inspected were carried over from the previous inspection.

What inspectors praised

Trained and sufficient staff
Inspectors found enough staff to meet people's needs. Recruitment checks were completed and training records showed full compliance across the modules reviewed.
“The providers training matrix showed 100% compliance across modules including health and safety, medication awareness and equality and diversity.” from the report
Safe medicines management
Medicines were checked regularly and staff had training and competency assessments for medicine administration.
“We were assured staff were competent in all aspects of medicine management.” from the report
Learning from incidents
The home investigated accidents and used the findings to change support. Inspectors saw that actions taken had reduced falls.
“At the time of the inspection the number of falls for the month had been reduced to zero due to the actions taken by staff.” from the report
Open management
The management team communicated with people, relatives and staff. Regular audits and meetings were used to monitor care and act on feedback.
“The service had a quality assurance system which was used to identify positive practice as well as areas for improvement.” from the report

What inspectors were concerned about

Inspectors raised no specific concerns in this report.

Questions to ask them, based on this report

01How will you review my relative's individual risks and positive behaviour support plan?
02How do you check that medicines remain safe and that staff keep their competencies up to date?
03How do you make sure staffing levels continue to match people's changing support needs?
04How will you support my relative to build independence, access the community and maintain important contacts?
05What were the ratings and findings for Caring, Effective and Responsive at the last comprehensive inspection?

This was a focused inspection of Safe and Well-led only; the ratings for the other key questions were carried over from the previous inspection when calculating the overall rating. This explanation was written from the published report of 4 October 2023 by an AI system and checked against the report text: every quoted line appears in the report. It is a guide to the report, not a substitute for it. Read the full report on cqc.org.uk.

The story over the years

Every inspection of Thornhill

3 rated inspections over 8 years: the service has held its Good rating throughout.

October 2023Goodcurrent rating
Safe: GoodEffective: GoodCaring: GoodResponsive: GoodWell-led: Good
Read what inspectors found at Thornhill →
April 2021Inspected but not rated
Safe: Inspected but not ratedEffective: Inspected but not ratedResponsive: Inspected but not ratedWell-led: Inspected but not rated
We are reading this report · the original is on cqc.org.uk
February 2018Goodstayed Good
Safe: GoodWell-led: Good
Read this report on cqc.org.uk
January 2016Good
Safe: GoodEffective: GoodCaring: GoodResponsive: GoodWell-led: Good
Read this report on cqc.org.uk
August 2013
Report published without a new overall rating.
Read this report on cqc.org.uk
February 2013
Registered with the Care Quality Commission on 1 February 2013.

Ratings and report dates from the Care Quality Commission. A service can also be visited without a new rating being published, so the timeline shows published inspections, not every contact the CQC has had with the service.

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Sunderland, SR3

Good

Residential

Sunderland, SR2 · 0.1 km

Good

Residential

Rated 6 years agocare home

What inspectors found, October 2023

Trained and sufficient staff

Safe medicines management

Learning from incidents

Open management

Every inspection of Thornhill

Or stay at home with a private carer

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