We carried out an unannounced inspection at Eastgate Residential Home on 30 April 2018. This was the first ratings inspection since the provider had registered with us in March 2017.

Eastgate Residential Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Eastgate Residential Home accommodates a maximum of 11 people. The service contains four flats, each of which have separate adapted facilities and seven additional bedrooms with en-suite facilities. At the time of the inspection there were seven people using the service on a permanent basis and two people were using the service on a temporary respite/assessment basis.

The care service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

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.

People received safe care and we found there were enough staff to provide support to people that met their needs. We found that people were consistently protected from the risk of harm and received their medicines safely. The provider had safe recruitment procedures in place to ensure that staff were of a good character and suitable to support people who used the service. People were protected from infection and cross contamination risks.

People were supported to make decisions about their care and staff sought people’s consent before they carried out support. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible.

People’s nutritional needs were met by staff. People were able to choose what they wanted to eat and drink. People had access to health care services and advice sought was followed by staff to ensure people’s health and wellbeing was maintained. Staff received training to enable them to support people effectively. The environment was adapted in a way that met people’s needs.

People were treated with dignity and staff were caring and kind. People’s privacy was respected an upheld, people were able to have time to themselves in their private rooms. Staff encouraged people’s independence and respected people’s choices. Staff understood people’s individual communication needs and relationships with relatives were maintained.

People were supported with interests and hobbies that were important to them. People and their relatives were involved in the planning and review of their care. Staff knew people well, which meant people were supported in line with their preferences. People understood how to complain if they needed to because complaints procedures were in a format that people understood. Plans were in place to gain people’s views of how they wanted to be supported at the end of their life.

Systems were in place to assess and monitor the quality of the service people received. People and staff were encouraged to provide feedback about the service. The registered manager was approachable and supportive to both people and staff.