About the service: Acorn Park Adult Services is a residential care home that was providing accommodation and personal care to eight adults at the time of the inspection. The accommodation was in four domestic type houses on a campus that provides several services including a school and a children’s home.

People’s experience of using this service:

¿There was enough staff on duty to enable people to remain safe and receive care in a timely way.

¿ The risks to the quality and safety of the service were identified and acted on. The environment was safe and suitable for the needs of people living there. People had access to appropriate equipment where needed.

¿ People were supported to take their medicines in a safe way.

¿ All staff interacted inclusively and engagingly with people. The service worked flexibly and innovatively to ensure people who used the service felt at home.

¿ Staff were kind and caring and promoted people’s dignity. Staff understood the importance of treating people with respect and ensured they did this.

¿ People were observed to have good relationships with the staff team. Staff actively ensured people maintained links with their friends and family.

¿ Staff had received appropriate training and support to enable them to carry out their role safely. People’s health was well managed and staff had positive links with professionals, which promoted well-being for them. Staff were motivated and enjoyed strong team work.

More information is in the full report.

Rating at last inspection: Good (July 2016)

Why we inspected: This was a scheduled inspection based on our previous rating.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

This was an announced inspection that took place on 6 June 2016.

Acorn Park Adult Services provides accommodation and residential care for up to nine younger adults with learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder. People live in one of three seperate houses. There were nine people living at the home at the time of our inspection.

There was a manager at the home who had applied to become the registered manager. 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 safe living at Acorn Park Adult Services. People received support from staff who were kind and caring and treated people with compassion, dignity and respect.

People’s dignity was promoted and staff treated people as individuals. They had developed good relationships with them and encouraged their independence. People were able to develop relationships with others within the community, gain voluntary employment and take part in activities that they enjoyed.

Staff were well trained and supported by the manager. They had the skills and knowledge to provide support to the people they supported. They understood the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards which meant that they were working within the law to support people who may lack capacity to make their own decisions.

People were supported to maintain their health when they became unwell or required specialist help with an existing condition. The culture of the home was open where the people who lived at the home, their relatives and staff could question current care practices without hesitation. People, their relatives and staff were listened to and felt that they mattered.

The quality and safety of the care provided was effectively monitored and the service demonstrated a learning culture. Good leadership was demonstrated at all levels.

We were unable to speak fully with people who lived at the home because they had complex needs that limited their communication. We used observation to assess if they were consulted and offered opportunities to make a choice and decisions. We spoke with their relatives who told us that staff consulted them and respected and acted on the decisions they made about the care and support their young person received.

Our observations showed us that people were given the support and attention they needed and had a positive experience of being included in conversations and decision making. We saw that people were offered daily activities that stimulated and interested them.

We found that plans of care contained the information staff members needed to ensure that the health and safety of people was promoted.

Relatives told us that people received the care and support they needed and that staff were excellent.

Medication was stored appropriately and administered and recorded accurately.

Adequate numbers of staff members were provided to ensure that the care and support needs of each person were met.

Relatives told us that they had no complaints and that their wishes were listened to and adhered to. We found that there was a complaints system in place that met the needs of people living in and visiting the home.

We used a number of different methods to help us understand the experiences of people using the service, because the people using the service had complex needs which meant that they were not able to tell us their experiences.

We spoke with the relatives of the two people living in the home. They told us that the needs of their relative were met and that they were consulted about the care, support and behavioural support that their relative was provided with. They were complimentary about the staff that cared for their relative and told us that they always treated them and their relative with respect and kindness. They told us that the privacy of their relative was respected and that they were each provided with enough staff to assist and support them. They told us that the environment was comfortable and clean and that their relative was provided with opportunities to prepare meals and to take part in daily activities.

We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a specific way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk. We observed that people living in the home are given the support and attention they need, are appropriately supported to manage their behaviour and have a positive experience of being included in conversations, activities and decision making.