This inspection took place on 5 and 6 April 2017 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a supported living service to people in their own homes and we wanted to ensure that staff were available in the office, as well as giving notice to people that we would like to visit them. On the 18 April 2017 we contacted people’s relatives by telephone to seek their views about the service. At the last inspection in December 2014, we found the service met all the regulations we looked at and was rated as good.

Congleton Supported Living Network is one of a number of services provided by Care4CE the in-house provider of social care services for Cheshire East Council. The Network provides personal care services to adults with learning disabilities in their own homes. This arrangement is called ‘supported living’ because people are supported to live, often in groups, in properties which are provided by a social or other land lord. At the time of our inspection visit there were 19 people being supported. They were supported within eight separate properties in the local areas.

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.

We found that people and their relatives were positive and complimentary about the support they received from the service. People lived in clean and comfortable environments and the people spoken with indicated that they were happy and well treated.

Policies and procedures for safeguarding people from harm were in place. We saw from the records that staff had previously been trained in safeguarding procedures and understood their responsibilities to report any concerns of this nature. However, we noted that some members of staff had not undertaken any recent refresher training in this subject. The registered manager told us that safeguarding training was being arranged by the provider and a number of staff had undertaken this and assured us that the rest of the staff wold undertake this as soon as it was available. The registered manager kept a safeguarding file which held details about any safeguarding referrals that had been made to the local authority and demonstrated that these had been dealt with appropriately.

Risk assessments were undertaken with people to identify any risks around areas such as physical health, safeguarding, behaviours and medication. We reviewed risk assessments within people’s support plans which included detailed information about the action staff should take to support people as safely as possible. Staff were able to tell us about the risks people faced.

The were some staff vacancies and the provider aimed to recruit to these posts when possible. However there was a small pool of bank staff and an agency member of staff available to ensure that there were sufficient staff to meet people’s support needs. We found that people were provided with the level of support commissioned by the local authority to ensure people's needs were met. Appropriate recruitment checks had been made to ensure that staff were suitable to work with vulnerable adults.

Medicines were managed safely and people received their medication as prescribed.

During the inspection we saw from training records that there were some gaps in training undertaken. For example, certain staff had not completed refresher training in safeguarding, food hygiene or emergency aid for over three years. Staff spoken with told us that they had received training, whilst others thought they were overdue to complete training in some areas.

There had been a change to the way that the provider arranged and delivered training. Training had previously been managed by an

We saw recorded evidence of the person's consent to the decisions that had been agreed around their care. The people we spoke to who were using the service confirmed that they had been involved in making decisions about their support plan.

We spoke with six people who received support from the network to obtain their views on how well the staff members were providing safe and appropriate care. People told us that their support needs were being met and that they had confidence in the staff members who were visiting them. Comments included; “I am very happy in my house” and “I am fine, I like my house.”

We spoke to people using the services about whether they felt safe and what they might do if they didn't. They told us that they would speak to staff about any concerns they had. The people we spoke with also told us that they were happy with the staff members who were working with them.

We looked at the files for the two most recently appointed staff members to check that effective recruitment procedures had been completed. We found that the appropriate checks had been made to ensure that they were suitable to work with vulnerable adults.

Information about the safety and quality of service provided was gathered on a continuous and ongoing basis with feedback from the people who used the service.

The inspection took place on 15 and 19 December 2014. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a supported living service to people in their own homes and we needed to be sure that someone would be in. The service was last inspected in October 2013 when it was found to be meeting all the regulatory requirements which apply to this type of service.

Congleton Supported Living Network is one of a number of services provided by Care4CE the in-house provider of social care services for Cheshire East Council. The Network provides personal care services to adults with learning disabilities in their own homes. This arrangement is called ‘supported living’ because people are supported to live, often in groups, in properties which are provided by a social or other landlord.

The Network accommodates 21 people in the Cheshire East and South areas of the County and all these places were allocated at the time of the inspection.

The service has a 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.

We found that the Congleton Supported Living Network provided a personalised service to the people who lived in the network. People were able to live as close to an ordinary life as possible and could pursue their own leisure or work interests. The network staff provided people with support which was tailored to people’s individual needs.

The staff were well-trained although some “refresher” training would soon be needed and the registered manager was aware that Disclosure and Barring Checks also needed renewal. There were good systems in place to protect people from harm and staff had a good knowledge of people’s individual needs