The Kent Autistic Trust – 118 Beaver Lane in Ashford, Kent a residential home providing personal care to people over 18 with learning disabilities and/or autistic spectrum disorder, was rated outstanding for being effective, responsive and well-led following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), 23 July 2019.
The safe and responsive categories were rated Good.
The CQC report highlighted that a resident was profoundly deaf. To ensure staff did not startle the person after knocking a flashing doorbell had been installed to alert the person that someone was at their door. Staff consistently pressed the doorbell and waited a few seconds before entering and greeting the person.
People were freely able to move about the service as they pleased. Some had their own entrances and flats which was their own private spaces. One person was not able to tolerate certain items in their flat, therefore these items were stored in the main house and taken to the person when they needed them. This enabled the person to feel calm and settled and helped them feel safe and secure in their own environment.
A relative said, "When they were developing the flat, we discussed all the plans and CCTV.”
The service had been extremely responsive to people's changing needs. The provider had created a bespoke adaptation to part of the building which changed one area into a self-contained flat. This example showed how staff worked together to go above and beyond to respond to a person's changing needs. The person had got to the point where, despite every intervention from the staff team, the local authority care manager, their relatives and health professionals, they were no longer able to tolerate living with other people. This had an extremely negative impact on the person's physical and mental health and well being.
The person's relative said, "Kent Autistic Trust have been fabulous about providing a flat when he was finding it very difficult sharing with others. They really went beyond what they had to do to find a solution. They know him incredibly well such as his signs, body language and they pick up on things very quickly. I wouldn't want him anywhere else. We had close communication about what was going on. I was very distressed and couldn't see a way forward; social services wanted to move him to somewhere which was not appropriate, I was frightened for him and had many sleepless nights. It has been a weight lifted off my mind."
