This inspection took place on 22 August 2017 and was announced. At our last inspection in July 2015 we were unable to provide a rating for the service due to there being only one resident living at the home.

Cranleigh Gardens provides accommodation, care and support for people with mental health needs. The aim is to help people to live with more independence in the community and the average length of stay is approximately two years. There were four people using the service when we visited and one vacancy.

The service had 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 associated Regulations about how the service is run.

We looked at the systems in place for managing medicines and found the systems in place for medicines management were not always safe. We found errors with the recording procedures for medicines.

People and their relatives told us they felt safe with the service they received. There were arrangements in place to help safeguard people from the risk of abuse. The provider had appropriate policies and procedures in place that informed the manager and staff as well as people who used the service and their relatives about how to report suspected abuse.

People had risk assessments and risk management plans to reduce the likelihood of harm. Staff knew how to use the information to keep people safe and work with them positively to help them be as independent as possible.

The registered manager ensured there were safe recruitment practices to help protect people from the risks of being cared for by staff assessed to be unfit or unsuitable. People received effective care because staff were appropriately trained and supported to do their jobs.

All the people living in the home had the capacity to make decisions for themselves. Staff had received appropriate training and had a good understanding of 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.

People were encouraged and supported by staff to become more independent by developing the knowledge and skills to do so. This included eating well and staying healthy. When people needed care and support from healthcare professionals, staff ensured people received this promptly.

People had care plans outlining the goals they wished to achieve whilst at the service and what support they required from staff to achieve them. People were involved in planning their care and their views were sought and planned for as a central and important part of the process. The service regularly monitored people’s changing needs and involved them in discussions about any changes that needed to be made to their care plans.

Staff respected people’s privacy and treated them with respect and dignity.

People were encouraged to maintain relationships with the people that were important to them. Relatives and other visitors were made to feel welcome and told us they were free to visit people in the home.

The provider encouraged people to raise any concerns they had and responded to them in a timely manner. People were aware of the complaints policy and that was used effectively.

People gave positive feedback about the management of the service. The registered manager and the staff were approachable and fully engaged with providing good quality care for people who used the service. The provider had systems in place to continually monitor the quality of the service and people were asked for their opinions via feedback surveys. Action plans were developed where required to address areas that needed improvements.

This inspection took place on 12 October 2015 and was unannounced. This was our first inspection since the service was registered in April 2015. We did not give a rating to the service because there was only one person using the service and this was its first inspection. We did not have enough information about the experiences of a sufficient number of people using the service over a consistent period of time to give a rating to each of the five questions and an overall rating for the service.

Cranleigh Gardens provides accommodation, care and support for up to five people with mental health needs. The aim is to help people to live with more independence in the community and the average length of stay is approximately two years. There was one person using the service when we visited.

The service had 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 associated Regulations about how the service is run. The person who used the service told us they felt safe with the service they received. We saw there were arrangements in place to help safeguard people from the risk of abuse. The provider had appropriate policies and procedures in place that informed the registered manager and staff as well as people who used the service about how to report suspected abuse.

The person living at Cranleigh Gardens had a risk assessment and risk management plans to reduce the likelihood of harm to them. Staff knew how to use the information to keep them safe and work with them positively to help them be as independent as possible.

The registered manager ensured there were safe recruitment practices to help protect people from the risks of being cared for by staff assessed as unfit or unsuitable.

Staff worked with the hospital clinical team to ensure safe medicines management processes were in place for the person living at Cranleigh Gardens. People would be supported to self-medicate when they were able to do so.

The person we met received effective care and they thought staff were well trained and did their jobs well.

Staff had received appropriate training and had a good understanding of 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.

People told us they were encouraged and supported by staff in a way that was helping them to become more independent. They said their aim was to develop their own knowledge and skills to help them with this. One important part of this included eating well and staying healthy. They said that when they needed care and support from healthcare professionals such as the doctor or dentist, staff had helped them access these services.

There was a care plan in place for the person living at Cranleigh Gardens that outlined the goals they wished to achieve and what support they needed from staff to achieve them. They had expressed their views and they felt they were an important part of the process. Staff monitored their needs and involved them in discussions about any changes that needed to be made to their care plan.

We observed that staff respected the person’s privacy and treated them with respect and dignity.

People were encouraged to maintain relationships with the people that were important to them. People important to individuals using the service were made to feel welcome and they were free to visit relatives and friends without restrictions as long as they said where they were going.

The provider encouraged people to raise any concerns they had and responded to them in a timely manner. People were made aware of the complaints policy so they could raise any concerns they might have so these could be dealt with appropriately.

People gave us positive feedback about the management of the service. We found the registered manager and the staff approachable and fully engaged with providing good quality care for people who used the service. The provider had systems in place to continually monitor the quality of the service and to ask people using the service, relatives and health and social care professionals for their opinions via feedback surveys. Action plans were developed where required to address areas that needed improvements.