The inspection was announced and took place on 7, 9 and 10 June 2016.

Reeve Court Village is a care at home service provided by Extra Care Charitable Trust. Reeve Court is situated on the outskirts of St Helens, Merseyside. The service is an Extra Care Housing Scheme which is registered as a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to some of the people living at the complex.

During our inspection the registered manager was present. 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.

The feedback we received from people was consistently good. People that used the service expressed satisfaction and spoke highly of the registered manager. One person said “I cannot speak highly enough of everyone at Reeve Court”.

People were supported to take their medicines by staff who were appropriately trained. People received care and support from staff that knew them very well, and had the knowledge and skills to meet people’s individual needs. People told us staff always treated them well and promoted their choices regarding their care, support and the activities they participated in. People and their relatives spoke very positively about staff, their comments included, “I have had consistently good support over the last three years” and ”The staff are well trained and highly skilled”.

Staff were trained in safeguarding adults and understood fully how to recognise and report any abuse. The service had policies and procedures in place that informed staff of how to keep people safe and these were followed.

Staffing ratios were in place to meet people’s assessed needs and were responsive to people’s changing needs and preferences. This enabled people to make full use of all of the facilities the complex had to offer, to go out on trips, both as a group and individually, and to experience attentive support.

People were protected by the service’s safe recruitment practices. Staff underwent the necessary checks which helped the registered provider determine whether they were suitable to work with vulnerable adults, before they started their employment. Staff completed a comprehensive induction programme which included competency assessments.

Risks associated with people’s care needs were anticipated, identified and monitored. Staff managed risk effectively and supported people’s decisions, so they had as much control and independence as possible. This ensured people’s safety was maintained.

Care plans and risk assessments provided staff with clear direction and guidance as to how to meet people’s individual needs. People said they were fully involved in the development of their care plans. This meant people received person centred care in a way that was meaningful to them.

People knew how to raise concerns and make complaints. People and their relatives who had raised concerns confirmed they had been dealt with promptly and satisfactorily.

There was a management structure within the service which provided clear lines of responsibility and accountability. There was a positive culture within the service, the management team provided strong leadership and led by example. Staff said “I feel well supported by the company and think all staff are recognised and valued” and “We all work well as a team and value each others skills and knowledge”.

There were quality assurance systems in place to make sure that any areas for improvement were identified and addressed. Members of the management team were visible in the service and regularly visited people and sought their views about the service.

We spoke with people who used the service on a one to one and group basis. People gave us good feedback about all aspects of their support. They told us they felt listened to and respected by staff and they told us they felt supported to make their own decisions and to be as independent as possible. People told us they had been asked what support they required and how they wanted this to be provided. We saw that people had been involved in putting together their care plan and had been asked for their consent to the care and support they received. People's needs were clearly reflected in their care plan and staff presented as having a good understanding of people's needs. People’s comments about the service included the following: “It’s excellent”, “The carers are very respectful and kind” and “It’s brilliant, I can’t fault the care.”

People had the opportunity to attend a range of meetings about the service and to be involved in consultation and decision making. These included a monthly ‘Street meeting’, a ‘Residents Association’ meting and a national ‘Resident’s forum’. Alongside these were more informal coffee mornings and interest group meetings. People were also given the opportunity to attend meetings to review their care package.

We found that appropriate procedures were in place to support people with managing their medicines and medication practices were checked on a regular basis.

Checks had been carried out on staff before they started working for the agency. These aimed to ensure people were supported by staff who had the appropriate skills, experience and qualities they needed to carry out their roles.

People who used the service were listened to and their comments, complaints and views were used to improve the service. People using the service told us they would be happy to make a complaint if they had any concerns or complaints about the service and they felt confident that the manager would address any concerns. Complaints records showed that complaints had been investigated and responded to appropriately.

We visited Reeve Court Village to look at records, talk to the registered manager and observe and assess the quality of care and support being delivered by the service.

Reeve Court is part of The Extra Care Charitable Trust. On the day of our inspection the agency was providing care and support to 65 service users living in their own apartments.

We were informed by the registered manager that 76 staff members were employed including 45 care staff.

We looked at the care files of three people living at Reeve Court and throughout the day we spoke with five of the people living there.

We spoke with six people employed by the care agency and we checked the training and supervision records for all staff.

The people we spoke with said the residential support workers (RSW) had always treated them with dignity and respect.

Some comments from service users were, "It's the best move I ever made,” “I have lived here for eight years, It’s absolutely marvellous,” “The carers are really good” and “I am having a reassessment next week. I am hopefully having my care support increased.”