We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service in November 2016. A breach of legal requirements was found because the provider was not always reporting significant events to the Care Quality Commission (CQC). After the comprehensive inspection, the provider wrote to us to tell us what they would do to meet this legal requirement.

We undertook this focused inspection to check that they had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Duncan Court and Donnybrook Court on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

There was a registered manager at the service. 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.

At our previous inspection we reviewed records of incidents and accidents and found that the provider had not informed CQC of some significant events. At this inspection we found that the provider was now doing this, and there were measures in place to check that this was done in future.

This inspection took place on 15, 17, 22 and 24 November 2016, and was unannounced on the first day. This was the first inspection since the provider registered this location in June 2016.

Duncan Court and Donnybrook Court is an extra care service which provides care and support to older people and people with dementia over two sites in Tower Hamlets, each of which consists of 40 single flats, with a kitchen, bedroom, living room and shower room. Each building has communal bathrooms on each floor and a communal lounge, dining room, hairdresser and an on-site office. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting 59 people with personal care.

The service had 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.

People told us that they felt safe, comfortable, respected and well cared for. People received person-centred care through appropriate systems of care planning and review. Staff used tools for exploring people’s life stories and found out about people’s needs and preferences with regards to their care and lifestyle and staffing hours were provided in a way which was responsive to people’s needs.

There were systems in place to ensure the health and safety of people who used the service, which included appropriate risk assessments and regular safety checks of the premises. Managers had appropriate procedures in place and carried out audits which ensured people’s care was safe and appropriate and operated an open door policy which meant people could approach them with concerns, questions and complaints. Complaints were taken seriously, and where appropriate the service had taken steps to address people’s concerns and learn from them. The service fulfilled its responsibilities to obtain consent to people’s care and to check whether people were subject to restrictions on their movement.

Staff received the training and support they needed in order to carry out their roles and were checked prior to employment to ensure they were suitable for their roles. There were staff planners in place to ensure that people received the right care at the right time. Medicines were appropriately recorded and checked to ensure people had received them safely and suspected errors were reported and investigated. Staff received training and observations of their competency to administer medicines.

People benefitted from a varied and interesting programme of activities which demonstrated good links to the community. Most people told us they enjoyed these, but it was not always clear whether people chose not to attend or were missing out. People were supported to attend health appointments and staff looked out for when people may not be well and worked with other professionals to address this. The provider had procedures in place to help protect people from abuse.

We found one breach of regulations regarding notifying the Care Quality Commission of reportable incidents. You can see what action we have told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.