44, Albion Road is a residential care home for seven people who have severe or profound learning disabilities and autism.

At our last inspection we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection. At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

Relatives told us they felt their family members were safe living at Albion Road. Staff knew how to protect people if they suspected they were at risk of abuse or harm. Risks to people’s health, safety and wellbeing had been assessed and staff knew how to minimise and manage identified hazards in order to help keep people safe from harm or injury.

Appropriate staff recruitment processes helped to ensure people were protected. We saw there were enough properly trained and well supported staff to meet people’s needs.

People received their medicines as prescribed and staff knew how to manage medicines safely.

Relatives and social care professionals told us people received effective care. Staff had access to a wide range of training and they were supported with regular and structured supervision.

People are supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive ways possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Staff we spoke with had a good understanding of their responsibilities in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). DoLS provides a process to make sure people are only deprived of their liberty in a safe and correct way. There were policies in place in relation to this and the service had ensured the local authorities had carried out the appropriate assessments for people who might have been deprived of their liberty. Staff supported people to make choices and decisions about their care wherever they had the capacity to do so.

People were supported to have a varied and balanced diet and food that they enjoyed and they were enabled to eat and drink well and stay healthy.

Staff supported people to keep healthy and well through regular monitoring of their health and wellbeing.

Relatives and social care professionals told us staff were kind and caring. We saw staff treated people with dignity, respect and compassion. Staff understood people’s needs and helped them to express their views and wishes where ever possible.

People were encouraged to maintain relationships that were important to them. Relatives said they were made to feel welcome when they visited the home.

Care plans were in place which reflected people’s specific needs and their individual choices. Relatives of people were involved in reviewing their relations’ care plans and we saw people were supported to make decisions about their care and support.

People had access to their local community and could choose to participate in a variety of in-house and community based social activities. We also saw staff encouraged and supported people to be as independent as they could and wanted to be.

People using the service and their relatives were encouraged to give feedback on the service and there was an effective complaints system in place.

Relatives said the registered manager encouraged feedback and sought to develop and improve the service for people. Staff told us they felt well supported and enjoyed working in a positive environment.

Staff told us they were clear about their roles and responsibilities and they had a good understanding of the ethos of the service.

Systems were in place to monitor the safety and quality of the service and to get the views of people about the quality of the service. These measures of monitoring the service has helped

We carried out this unannounced inspection on 15 April 2016. At our previous inspection in March 2015, we judged that the service was meeting all the regulations that we looked at.

44, Albion Road is a care home that provided care and support for seven men who have severe or profound learning disabilities and autism.

The service has a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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 the associated Regulations about how a service is run.

Relatives told us they felt their family members were safe living at Albion Road. Staff knew how to protect people if they suspected they were at risk of abuse or harm. Risks to people’s health, safety and wellbeing had been assessed and staff knew how to minimise and manage identified hazards in order to help keep people safe from harm or injury.

Appropriate staff recruitment processes helped to ensure people were protected. We saw there were enough properly trained and well supported staff to meet people’s needs.

People received their medicines as prescribed and staff knew how to manage medicines safely.

Relatives and social care professionals told us people received effective care. Staff had access to a wide range of training and they were supported with regular and structured supervision.

Staff we spoke with had a good understanding of their responsibilities in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). DoLS provides a process to make sure people are only deprived of their liberty in a safe and correct way. There were policies in place in relation to this and the service had ensured the local authorities had carried out the appropriate assessments for people who might have been deprived of their liberty. Staff supported people to make choices and decisions about their care wherever they had the capacity to do so.

People were supported to have a varied and balanced diet and food that they enjoyed and they were enabled to eat and drink well and stay healthy.

Staff supported people to keep healthy and well through regular monitoring of their health and wellbeing.

Relatives and social care professionals told us staff were kind and caring. We saw staff treated people with dignity, respect and compassion. Staff understood people’s needs and helped them to express their views and wishes where ever possible.

People were encouraged to maintain relationships that were important to them. Relatives said they were made to feel welcome when they visited the home.

Care plans were in place which reflected people’s specific needs and their individual choices. Relatives of people were involved in reviewing their relations’ care plans and we saw people were supported to make decisions about their care and support.

People had access to their local community and could choose to participate in a variety of in-house and community based social activities. We also saw staff encouraged and supported people to be as independent as they could and wanted to be.

People using the service and their relatives were encouraged to give feedback on the service and there was an effective complaints system in place.

Relatives said the registered manager encouraged feedback and sought to develop and improve the service for people. Staff told us they felt well supported and enjoyed working in a positive environment.

Staff told us they were clear about their roles and responsibilities and they had a good understanding of the ethos of the service.

Systems were in place to monitor the safety and quality of the service and to get the views of people about the quality of the service. These measures of monitoring the service has helped to make improvements were necessary.

This was an unannounced inspection and took place on 3 March 2015.

44, Albion Road provides care and support for seven men who have severe or profound learning disabilities and autism.

At our previous inspection in April 2013, we judged that the service was meeting all the regulations that we looked at.

The service has a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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 the associated Regulations about how a service is run.

Relatives told us they felt their family members were safe living at Albion Road. Staff knew how to protect people if they suspected they were at risk of abuse or harm. Risks to people’s health, safety and wellbeing had been assessed and staff knew how to minimise and manage identified hazards in order to help keep people safe from harm or injury.

There were enough properly trained and well supported staff to meet people’s needs. Relatives told us, and we saw staff had built up good working relationships with people. Staff were familiar with people’s individual needs and the choices made about their care.

People received their medicines as prescribed and staff knew how to manage medicines safely.

Staff we spoke with had a good understanding of their responsibilities in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). DoLS provides a process to make sure people are only deprived of their liberty in a safe and correct way. There were policies in place in relation to this and the service had ensured the local authorities had carried out the appropriate assessments for all the people who might have been deprived of their liberty. Staff supported people to make choices and decisions about their care wherever they had the capacity to do so.

People had a varied and nutritious diet and choice of meals. They were supported to have a varied and balanced diet and food that they enjoyed and they were enabled to eat and drink well and stay healthy.

Staff supported people to keep healthy and well through regular monitoring of their general health and wellbeing. Relatives told us staff were kind and caring. We saw they treated people with dignity, respect and compassion.

People were encouraged to maintain relationships that were important to them. There were no restrictions on when people could visit the home and staff made all visitors feel welcome.

People had access to their local community and could choose to participate in a variety of in-house and community based social activities. We also saw staff encouraged and supported people to be as independent as they could and wanted to be.

Care plans were in place which reflected people’s specific needs and their individual choices. Relatives of people were involved in reviewing their relations’ care plans and we saw people were supported to make decisions about their care and support.

People using the service and their relatives were encouraged to give feedback on the service and there was an effective complaints system in place.

Relatives said the registered manager encouraged feedback and sought to develop and improve the service for people. Staff told us they felt well supported and enjoyed working in a positive environment.

Staff told us they were clear about their roles and responsibilities they had a good understanding of the ethos of the service.

Systems were in place to monitor the safety and quality of the service and to get the views of people about the service. These measures of monitoring the service has helped to make improvements were necessary.

On the day of our inspection there were seven people living at Care Management Group – 44 Albion Road on a permanent basis.

We used a number of different methods to help us understand the experiences of people using the service because some of the people who lived at this care home had complex needs, which meant they were not always able to communicate with us. During our inspection we saw that people were occupied with chores around the home for example helping with the laundry or in the kitchen. People told us about the daily chores they were involved in one person told us “I keep the kitchen tidy” and another said “I help with the cooking and laundry”. We saw how staff supported people to do their own laundry and cleaning tasks.

We were able to observe that people's experience of the service was a positive one. One staff member told us “this place is very good for me; if the people here are happy then I am happy”. We saw staff treated people with respect and dignity and people were supported to make informed decisions about how they lived their lives. We also gathered evidence of people's experiences of the service by speaking to the registered manager and other staff who worked in the home and reviewing various records the provider is required to keep.

We saw that polices and procedures had been put in place to ensure the safety and well being of people using the service and we saw evidence of a quality assurance system regularly monitored by the provider.

Most of the people using this service could communicate with us in a meaningful way and told us what it was like to live at 44 Albion Road, although because of some peoples complex needs not everyone was able to vocalise their views about their home. Consequently, we used a number of different methods to gather evidence of people’s experiences in order to help us understand what it was like for people living at this home, which included: Speaking to people using the service and staff, reviewing care plans and other relevant records, and using the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI) tool to see how staff interacted with the people using the service. SOFI is a specific way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

The feedback we received from all the people using the service who we had a meaningful conversation with was on balance very complimentary about the standard of the care and support they received from staff that worked at this home. Typical comments we received from 2 people we spoke with, included: “Yes – I do like it here” and “I am happy at this home”.

During our visit we found evidence that showed us the provider had suitable arrangements in place to ensure the people using the service were involved in making informed decisions and choices about the care and support they received.

All the people using the service we spoke with about the choices available to them told us they were allowed to make some decisions about the care and support they were provided. For example, people we met confirmed that they could usually choose the times they got up and went to bed, what they ate, and the activities they joined in.

Furthermore, most people we met told us staff usually listened to them and that sometimes they could help run their home. Typical comments we received, included: “We sometimes have meetings to talk about food and holidays” and “I have got a key-worker who I always talk too. They are nice”.

We found evidence during our review that demonstrated the provider had suitable arrangements in place to ensure the privacy and dignity of people using the service was always respected. Throughout the course of our visit staff were observed interacting with people in a very kind, courteous and respectful manner. For example, we saw staff continually enquire about the wellbeing of all the people who were relaxing in the lounge at the time of our visit and whether or not anyone would like a hot or cold drink. During lunch we also observed a member of staff take their time to support a person who required assistance to eat their meal in a dignified and discreet way.

We found evidence during our review that demonstrated the provider had suitable arrangements in place to ensure the people using the service were actively encouraged and supported to do as much for themselves as they were willing and capable of doing so safely. We observed numerous examples of staff enthusiastically encouraging people participate in various household chores around their home, such as making themselves and/or their guests a hot drink, vacuuming the communal areas, and doing their own laundry.

We also observed staff supporting people to participate in a variety of in-house activities. During our visit most people when out with staff at one point or another to engage in various community based activities. One person we met told us staff sometimes took them on day trips to the coast, walking, and to college, and helped them do the garden.

However, the provider may find it useful to note that the registered manager and most of the staff we spoke with felt people using the service would have far greater opportunities to participate in more interesting and meaningful community based recreational and leisure activities if they had more staff working at busy times of the day. The registered manager told us the homes staffing levels were currently under review and a proposal to have an additional member of staff working at peak periods of activity was being considered by the provider.

Most people we spoke with told us they knew they had a care plan, which they had seen and often discussed with their designated key-worker.

We found clear evidence that showed us the provider had taken reasonable steps to ensure the people using the service are safeguarded against the risk of abuse and that any allegations of abuse, neglect or information of concern will always be responded to appropriately. All 5 people we spoke with about whether or not they felt safe living at this home told us they did.

We toured the home and found it to be accessible, adequately maintained, decorated to a reasonable standard, and clean. The comments we received from people using the service about the physical layout, interior design and furniture in their home was on the whole positive. One person we met told us their bedroom was: “Alright”.