About the service:

Eden Square, Apartment 13 is part of the Leonard Cheshire Disability Organisation. It consists of 13 newly constructed purpose-built apartments in one apartment block, and 6 apartments in another block. Both apartment blocks are in close proximity to each other; situated in a shopping precinct in Urmston. The service provides supported living to people with learning and physical disabilities. At the time of the inspection there were 21 people using the service.

People’s experience of using this service:

People who used the service told us staffing was an issue. Everyone we spoke with felt too many agency staff were used and that this was a concern. The service was implementing systems to address this issue.

The recruitment systems were robust. Regular staff were said to be extremely efficient and well-liked by people who used the service.

There were appropriate safeguarding policies and procedures in place.

Safeguarding concerns were logged and responded to appropriately and staff had received training in this area.

Individual risk assessments were in place and were updated as required. The service encouraged positive risk taking to enable people to be as independent and live as full a life as possible.

Health and safety risks measures were in place.

Accidents and incidents were recorded appropriately and followed up with actions where required.

The service analysed complaints, accidents and incidents and took learning from these to drive improvement to service delivery.

Thorough assessments were completed, and care plans included relevant information to help staff deliver appropriate support. Care plans were person-centred.

Induction and training were undertaken by staff.

Information about people’s nutritional, hydration and special dietary requirements was documented within the care plans. Eating and drinking care plans were in place as required.

The service worked within the legal requirements of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS).

People were spoken to in a kind and friendly manner. Staff received training in equality and diversity and social inclusion was encouraged and supported.

People were involved in planning and reviewing care and support and their communication needs were addressed.

Staff were required to sign a confidentiality agreement and seek consent from people who used the service to disclose any information.

People’s privacy and dignity was respected, and independence promoted.

The service had a clear complaints policy and complaints were logged and responded to appropriately.

CQC notifications of significant events that the service is required to tell us about, were sent in as required.

The manager had an open-door policy and staff and people who used the service told us they felt they could speak to them about any concerns.

Staff meetings were undertaken regularly, and the service carried out regular surveys for people who used the service and staff to complete.

Quality assurance checks and audits were completed.

Care files evidenced the service working in partnership with other health and social care agencies.

Rating at last inspection:

The previous inspection was carried out on 10 August 2016 and published on 30 September 2016. The service was rated good in all areas and overall.

Why we inspected:

This inspection was part of our scheduled plan of visiting services to check the safety and quality of care people received. Inspection timescales are based on the rating awarded at the last inspection and any information and intelligence received since we inspected. As the previous inspection was Good this meant we needed to re-inspect within approximately 30 months of this date.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor information and intelligence we receive about the home to ensure care remains safe and of good quality. We will return to re-inspect in line with our inspection timescales for good services, however if any inf

This inspection took place on 10 August 2016 and was announced. The service provides personal care and support to people in their own homes. Because staff and people were often out in the local community, we gave the provider 48 hours’ notice to make sure that staff would be available to assist us at the office.

We last inspected the service in November 2013 where we found they were meeting all the regulations we inspected.

There was a registered manager in post. She was on pre-arranged long term leave at the time of the inspection. The provider had notified us of her absence in line with legal requirements. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the 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. A service manager was covering the registered manager’s absence.

Eden Square, Apartment 13 is part of the Leonard Cheshire Disability Organisation. The service provides an independent supported living service with 24 hour care and on-site support for people with learning and physical disabilities.

Eden Square, Apartment 13 consists of one and two bedroom accessible apartments which are situated above a shopping precinct in Urmston. The apartments are owned by a not-for-profit housing company and available for people with individual budgets, direct payments or those who fund themselves. There were 20 people receiving support from the service at the time of our inspection.

People told us they felt safe. There were safeguarding policies and procedures in place. Staff were knowledgeable about what action they would take if abuse was suspected. There were no ongoing safeguarding concerns. This was confirmed by the local authority’s safeguarding adults team.

There was a safe system in place for the management of medicines. People told us there were enough staff to meet people’s needs. The service manager told us that they were currently recruiting additional staff. On the day of our inspection, we saw that people’s needs were met by the number of staff on duty.

There was a training programme in place. Staff were trained in safe working practices and to meet the specific needs of the people who used the service.

The service was not regulated to provide accommodation which meant we did not inspect the premises at Eden Square, Apartment 13.

People were supported to receive a suitable diet. They spoke positively about the caring nature of staff. They were also complimentary about the responsiveness of staff.

People were actively encouraged to give their views and raise concerns or complaints. There was a complaints procedure in place and people knew how to complain. Effective feedback systems were in place to obtain people’s views about the care and service delivered.

People and staff were complimentary about the management of the service. Staff told us they felt well supported by the service manager and team leader. Systems were in place to monitor all aspects of the service.

Care records contained enough information to show how people were to be supported and cared for. We spoke with two people using the service. They were complimentary about the staff and the care and support provided. They told us; “It’s really good and I am glad that I came to live here. The staff are really good” and “They get a gold star from me”.

We saw that systems were in place to protect people who may lack the capacity to make decisions about their own treatment, care and support.

An inspection of the care records showed that people had access to other health and social care services. Staff worked closely with other agencies so that people's social, emotional and physical needs were effectively met. We were also made aware of the systems that were in place to make sure that information was passed on when a person's care was transferred to another service.

The design, layout and maintenance of the apartments ensured that people, staff and visitors were kept safe.

Regular monitoring of the services and facilities provided was in place to help protect people against the risks of inappropriate or unsafe care.