This unannounced comprehensive inspection took place on 21 May 2018. 195 Ashby Road is a residential care home for 10 young people with autism, learning disabilities and mental health issues. At the time of our inspection there were 8 people living there. The aim is to learn practical life skills and take part in a range of community and home based activities to enable a transition towards a more independent life.

195 Ashby Road is a 'care home'. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. It is a house in a residential area with the accommodation arranged in three self-contained flats across three floors. It is located a short walk away from shopping and leisure facilities. The care service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

At our last inspection we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good in three domains and outstanding for responsive and well led. There was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns.

There was a strong focus on individual achievement and all staff were committed to helping the young people progress to achieve their goals and move towards more independence. They did this through careful and innovative planning with the person and others, including their families. People succeeded through consistent support from staff who had very clear guidance on how to approach this. People developed skills within the home and were also able to progress through education and leisure opportunities. They were encouraged and supported to learn to manage some of their behaviours which could harm them and others and this was very closely monitored. There was a strong ethos of learning from any incidents and reviewing people’ support on a regular basis to ensure it still met their needs. Staff had an in depth understanding of people’s diverse needs and were committed to enabling everyone to have equal access. This included having their voices heard and there was a lot of attention given to ensuring that people could understand information by adapting it to their needs to make it accessible.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. The registered manager provided clear leadership to the staff team and they felt supported and trusted. There was a shared culture which put people at the centre of the service. There was a strong commitment to continual improvement and innovative approaches to measuring success and developing the service had been implemented. The whole staff team worked closely with other professionals and valued their input in assisting them to get good outcomes for people. Governance systems were fully embedded and closely monitored and reviewed.

People continued to receive safe care. There were enough staff to support them and they were recruited to ensure that they were safe to work with people. Staffing levels were planned around individual need to keep people safe from harm. People were protected from the risk of harm and received their medicines safely. The risk of infection was controlled because the home was clean and hygienic. People were included in dome

We inspected 195 Ashby Rd on 03 March 2016 and it was an unannounced inspection. This was their first inspection. The home provides accommodation and support for up to ten young people with learning difficulties and complex needs, focussing on transition to a more independent life. At the time of the inspection there were six people living in three separate apartments on different floors of the building.

The home had a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People were kept safe by staff who understood their responsibilities to protect them. Each person had a key worker who met with them weekly to check that they were safe and had no concerns. Pictorial posters helped to explain to people how to raise a concern or make a complaint. They were also supported to make choices about their care and what they wanted to achieve. They planned their week to make sure they developed their independence and did the activities that they liked. They had care plans in place to support this and they were involved in reviewing these regularly.

We saw that there were enough staff working at the home and that those staff had been recruited following procedures to check that they were safe to work with people. They received training and support to ensure that they could support people well. We saw that they had positive relationships with people and that they used specialist equipment to assist people to make choices about their care. People were supported to make their own decisions and if they were not able to do so then decisions were made in their best interest with people who mattered to them.

Risks to people’s health and wellbeing were assessed and actions were put in place to reduce them so that people could lead as independent lives as possible. When interventions were needed to protect people from behaviours that could harm themselves or others these were done by trained competent staff. The analysis of the incidents was thorough to identify trends and actions were put in place to reduce them. Medicines were given to people safely and records were well maintained and managed.

Staff supported people to maintain their health. We saw that individual preferences were included in menus and that people were given choice about their food and drink.

People and staff told us that the registered manager was approachable and listened to people. The registered manager had implemented a range of systems to monitor and improve the quality of the service. This included responding to complaints and implementing actions from them.