About the service:

• Beulah Crescent provides 24-hour care and support for people aged 40 and above with learning disabilities and additional mental health needs.

• The service has two ground-floor bedrooms with stairs leading to four first-floor bedrooms. One first floor bedroom was not in use at the time of our inspection. On the first-floor people could use a communal bathroom and shower room and a further toilet was situated on the ground floor. People shared a communal lounge/dining room and kitchen.

• This service provides care and support to people living in a ‘supported living’ setting, so that they can live in their own home as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

• At the time of our inspection five people were using the service.

People’s experience of using this service:

• The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support in the following ways: promotion of choice and control, independence and inclusion. For example, people’s support focused on them having as much choice and control over their everyday lives as possible.

• People were happy and comfortable at the service, people spoke to staff about how they felt and what they wanted. Staff took time to listen and responded appropriately. Staff were kind and caring.

• People continued to receive safe care by staff who knew the risks people faced. Staff supported people to be independent while keeping them safe.

• Managers and staff knew how to record and report concerns, this included any safeguarding concerns. When an incident or accident happened, the cause was investigated and changes were made to make things better for people.

• Staff had received training and had the support they needed to do their job well.

• People were encouraged to make everyday choices about their lives, this included choice about their food and drink, the activities they wanted to do and keeping in touch with friends and family.

• Staff supported people to attend health care appointments and made sure heath care professionals knew how best to support them during treatment.

• People were asked their views about how the service was run and what the service could do better.

• Managers and staff put people at the centre of the service.

• Improvements and maintenance were needed around the service to keep people safe and to make it a nicer environment for people to live in. The provider and the landlord were in discussions about the improvements that needed to be made. After our inspection we were provided with an action plan of essential work to be completed together with expected completion dates. We were assured that improvements would be made and will monitor progress. We will look at this again during our next inspection.

• The service continued to meet the characteristics for a rating of “good” in all the key questions we inspected. Therefore, our overall rating for this service after our inspection was “good”.

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

Rating at last inspection:

• Good (The date the last report published was 10 August 2016)

Why we inspected:

• This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up:

• We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive. We will inspect in line with our inspection programme or sooner if required.

This inspection took place on 6 July 2016 and was announced.

This service transferred to a new provider in April 2015 and this was the first inspection of the service.

Beulah Crescent is a supported living service that accommodates five people with learning disabilities. Supported living services are where people live in their own home and receive care and/or support in order to support their independence. People had their own separate tenancy agreement with a landlord and received 24 hour support under a separate contractual arrangement with the provider Care Management Group.

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 provider had a safeguarding policy, and trained the staff team on protecting people from abuse. The manager and staff demonstrated their knowledge and awareness of the signs of abuse and of following safeguarding processes.

Staff were competent at identifying and assessing risks to people, and from these management plans were developed which gave guidance to staff on how to manage the risks appropriately. Staff were recruited safely as vetting procedures were thorough. There were sufficient numbers of suitably skilled staff available on duty to support people and flexibly meet their support needs. Staffing levels were those agreed with commissioning and based on individual needs.

People were supported to eat and drink, lead a healthy lifestyle and to attend health care appointments. People unable to take their own medicines were supported by staff. People received their medicines as prescribed and in a safe manner. Staff demonstrated good practice with medicines management.

The service had an experienced and skilled staff team. The provider provided a suitable learning and development programme for staff. Management arranged for staff to receive regular training and development. Attendance at training and the outcome of learning was monitored closely. Staff told of feeling supported in their role, and were supported through team meetings, appraisals and supervisions to improve and develop in their roles.

Staff understood the principles and legislation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and they encouraged people to make their own choices and decisions about daily living. Staff used picture formats and photo symbols to help people in their decision making process.

Staff had fostered excellent relationships with people based on trust and empathy. They were kind and caring, responsive and attentive to people’s needs. People’s privacy and dignity was respected.

People received support and were encouraged to lead a lifestyle they preferred. One person’s relative said, “My family member now does things that they were never able to do at home when being cared for by a disabled relative and has a much better quality of life.”

We saw that there were systems in place to assess and record people’s needs so that staff could provide a personalised service. Care records were kept updated and information shared so that staff were aware of individual’s changing needs. Staff responded appropriately if there was a change to a person’s care and support needs changed, for example, if they became unwell.

The service was well run by an experienced and competent manager. The manager provided clear leadership and direction to staff and people who used the service. There were effective systems in place to check the quality of the service, respond to suggestions and make any necessary improvements to the service people received. The registered manager monitored the quality of the service provision, supported the staff team and ensured that people who used the service were enabled to ma