The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Affinity Trust’s residential home in Rye, East Sussex, ‘Good’ in all five categories – safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.

CQC, the independent regulator of social care in England, visited the home at the end of May. Affinity Trust supports six people there of different age groups, all of whom have learning disabilities and/or autism.

The CQC inspector spoke to all the people at the home using sign-assisted language, as well as the registered manager and five other staff. They also reviewed documents and records. They used the Short Observational Framework, a way of observing support to understand the experience of people who do not communicate verbally.

The inspector noted:

• Wherever possible, people had been supported to make decisions for themselves – like what they wore, the music they played and the social activities they enjoyed.

• People were positive about the support they received. A relative said: “It’s really like a big family there and the support staff really do care. It’s plainly much more than just a job to them.”

• Support staff were consistently courteous, polite and helpful.

CQC said that the home was consistently managed and well-led, providing high-quality, person-centred support. A relative said: “The staff see the wellbeing of the people living in the home as paramount. The people there come first and everything else comes second.”

The ‘Good’ rating means that all Affinity Trust’s registered locations in England have been rated ‘Good’ by CQC for more than a year.

Read the full report on CQC’s website
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 “I always find the home to be spotlessly clean and that’s very reassuring to me” – relative quoted in the CQC report