Belvidere Park is a residential care home for up to three people living with mental health and learning disabilities. The property is a large detached property, situated in the residential area of Crosby and is located close to public transport links, leisure and shopping facilities. There are bedrooms and bathrooms on the ground and first floor. The first floor can be accessed via a stair lift.

At the last inspection, the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found the service remained good.

The registered manager had systems in place to record accidents and incidents and take appropriate action when required. Recruitment checks were carried out to ensure people were suitable to work with vulnerable people at the home. We saw there were enough staff on duty to meet people’s needs.

People are supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff support them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice.

The registered manager understood the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). This meant they were working within the law to support people who may lack capacity to make their own decisions.

Risk assessments had been developed to minimise the potential risk of harm to people who lived in the home. These were reviewed on a regular basis.

Person centred plans were in place detailing how people wished to be supported, as well as action plans detailing people’s hope and aspirations and their progress in achieving them.

Staff responsible for assisting people with their medicines had received medicines training to ensure they were competent and skilled to do so.

People regularly received snacks and drinks between meals to ensure they received adequate nutrition and hydration. Meals were with people’s preferences in mind.

We found people had access to healthcare professionals and their healthcare needs were met.

People who lived at the home participated in a range of activities, both with one another or individually with a staff member. People were supported to access their local community on a daily basis, when possible.

People who used the service knew how they could make a complaint. The complaints procedure was displayed in the home.

The registered manager used a variety of methods to assess and monitor the quality of the service provided at Belvidere Park. These included regular audits of the service and ‘staff and residents’ meetings to seek the views of people about the quality of care.

The service met all relevant fundamental standards.

We found that people's views were taken into account into the way this service was delivered. People were supported to go out into the community and to enjoy hobbies that were important to them. Staff we spoke with had an in-depth knowledge of people's preferences and this was supported by what people told us and the documentation we reviewed.

During this visit we used interviews and observations to review the service. Some people who used the service were able to tell us about living at the home and for others we observed non-verbal communication. People told us "I love it here". Staff told us "It is a lovely place to work".

People's health needs were regularly assessed and staff who worked there were able to tell us what those needs where. There was good evidence of processes in place to support staff and people to get help if needed.

We reviewed policies and spoke to staff who were able to explain the procedures in place to safeguard people using the service.

We reviewed the premises and equipment in place and accompanying policies and procedures associated with this. We found equipment to be in a good state of repair and were satisfied that there were mechanisms in place to maintain equipment. We found the premises to be in a good state of repair

The people who use the service could not tell us about their experiences of using it or comment about the care and support they received, due to a variety of complex needs. However we spent time observing the interaction between the people who lived at the home and the staff.

We saw that people were encouraged to be independent around the home and in the activities they took part in. We saw care and support being provided that was appropriate to the person's needs.

We saw that people who lived at the home were very relaxed and confident around staff. This shows that people feel safe in the home. The service took account of people's status in terms of decision making and worked closely with people, their families and external professionals.

We looked at the care records and found they contained all of the relevant documents to support a person safely. We looked at staff files, training and supervision records. We spoke with the registered manager and two support staff employed at the home.

During our visit we saw that the service had systems in place to recruit staff and ensure they were able to work safely with vulnerable adults. Staff we spoke with told us an improved induction programme had been introduced. We found that staff had good access to training to help them carry out their work.

The feedback received from the members of staff was all positive.

Due to the different ways that the people living at 6 Belvidere Park communicate we were not able to directly ask them their views on the support they received.

However, during our visit we met with all of the people living there. We spent time observing the support they received from staff with their everyday lives and how they chose to spend their time at home. We have taken this information into account in writing this report.

This inspection was announced and took place on 27 and 28 October 2014.

Belvidere Park is a large detached property, situated in the residential area of Crosby in Merseyside. It is located close to public transport links, leisure and shopping facilities. The service is operated by Expect Limited. The home provides care for adults with a learning disability and/or experiencing mental health problems and is registered to take up to three people. At the time of our inspection there were two people living in the home.

A registered manager was 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.’

People told us they were happy at the home, and our observations supported this.  Staff knew people’s individual needs and how to meet them. We saw that there were good relationships between people living at the home and staff, with staff taking time to talk and interact with people.

Throughout the inspection we observed staff supported people in a caring manner and treated people with dignity and respect. Staff demonstrated they had good knowledge of people’s needs and supported them as they preferred.

People had access to the local community and had individual activities provided. There were enough qualified and skilled staff at the home to meet people’s needs.

People were kept safe because there were arrangements in place to protect them from the risk of abuse.

CQC is required by law to monitor the operation of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). We found the location to be meeting the requirements of DoLS.

Staff received an induction and regular training in many topics such as the Mental Capacity Act (2005), safeguarding adults, medication administration, food safety, infection control, challenging behaviour, Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) and fire safety. This helped to ensure that they had the skills and knowledge to meet people’s needs.  Staff we spoke with told us the manager was approachable and supportive.

The care files we looked at contained relevant and detailed information to ensure staff had the information they needed to support people in the correct way and respect their wishes, likes and dislikes.

The home was well run by the manager and the building well maintained. We found checks were made regularly to ensure it was safe.