The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has removed the registration of Bright Brains Global Limited to prevent it from operating, in order to protect people.
The service, provided by an organisation of the same name provided supported living and personal care to autistic people and people with a learning disability. At the time of the inspection, four people received care from the service.
CQC carried out the inspection to assess progress following breaches identified at previous inspections. Inspectors found seven repeated breaches of legal regulations. These related to a lack of person-centred care, people not being treated with dignity and respect, and failures to assess people’s capacity to consent.
CQC took regulatory and legal action against the provider to cancel the registration of their supported living service. Bright Brains Global Limited exercised its right of appeal to the Care Standards Tribunal in order to challenge CQC’s decision. During tribunal proceedings, Bright Brains Global Limited withdrew their appeal. This means the regulatory action is completed and all people living in the service are now being supported to move
CQC re-rated the service inadequate for being safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led at their final inspection before taking the action to close them.
It’s always a last resort for CQC to take action which may result in a service that people are familiar with closing, as CQC understands the distress and upset this can cause. However, people using services should receive safe, effective and high-quality care that meets their needs. Where that isn’t happening, CQC take action to support services to improve, and if they aren’t able to, take further action such as cancelling their registration to keep people safe.
Catriona Eglinton, CQC deputy director of adult social care in Kent, said:
“When we returned to Bright Brains, we were appalled to find leaders hadn't addressed the serious concerns we raised at our previous inspections. There was still a closed culture, where people didn’t feel safe to speak out when things went wrong, and their basic human rights weren't always upheld.
“People still weren’t being supported to live empowered lives with choice and independence. Staff restricted one person from going food shopping because they shopped for snacks, rather than finding ways to support them safely. The service also used two rooms in one person's home as office space without their consent, leaving them with just one small communal lounge to share.
“Staff didn't always have the training they needed to support people safely. Nine out of 27 staff hadn't received positive behaviour support training, and 16 hadn't received de-escalation training. Agency staff had no training to support autistic people, people with a learning disability or positive behaviour support at all.
“Bright Brains Global Limited withdrew their appeal and this means the regulatory action we took to close the service now stands. The local authority are moving people living there to alternative accommodation and CQC continues to monitor the service to make sure people are safe while this happens.”
Inspectors found:
- Leaders failed to act after one person broke a bathroom window and sustained an injury. Another person later smashed the same window and was also hurt because the service hadn't replaced the glass with shatterproof material.
- Staff didn't monitor one person's bowel movements properly despite them being at high risk of constipation. Records showed gaps of two to three days with no action taken, putting the person's health at risk.
- The service didn't provide pain relief guidance for people who couldn't verbally communicate when they were in discomfort.
- Staff stripped away people’s individual identity referring to them by their initials rather than their names.
- Staff worked 14-hour day shifts before starting overnight sleeping shifts. On the day of the inspection, one home was short-staffed after someone called in sick and a senior staff member didn't arrive to cover until two hours later.