This unannounced comprehensive inspection took place on 28 and 30 September 2016.

Fulwood Court is a recently built complex providing people with their owned or rented, one or two bedroom apartment. There are 33 apartments. Fulwood Court provides a bistro with kitchen and dining areas, a large communal lounge, hairdressing salon and activities. If needed people can have a domiciliary care package from Fulwood Court to support them with their personal care, shopping or other general support. It is the personal care part of the service that is registered with the Care Quality Commission to carry out the regulated activity of ‘personal care’. This care is available 24 hours a day. At the time of our inspection, the service was regularly supporting 15 people with a care package for personal care. The service would occasionally support other people in Fulwood Court if they had any temporary support needs.

Previously, most of the staff and many of the people who live in Fulwood Court had been supported in a residential home run by the provider, not too far away. This had been closed when the Fulwood Court complex had opened.

The service requires 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.

The service had a registered manager who had been in post for several years.

The service used safe systems for recruiting new staff. These included checking references and a criminal conviction check using the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) for criminal records.

People told us they were happy about all the aspects of their care and support in their own homes. We found that the service was adequately staffed, with competent and trained staff members. They had an induction programme in place that included training staff to ensure they were competent in the role they were doing at the service and received on-going training. Staff told us they felt supported by the senior staff and the registered manager.

The care was person centred and individual to each person’s needs and staff and senior managers kept accurate and up to date records of the care they delivered. Staff knew how to safeguard people from abuse and report any concerns.

Risk assessments were carried out for people and where they needed help, were given support to administer their medication. People could choose where and when to eat and there was an on-site dining area where a variety of home cooked food was available, if they chose not to cook in their own kitchens.

The service was monitored effectively for quality and people using the service were listened to and treated with respect and dignity. Any complaints were dealt with effectively and the outcomes were recorded.

The provider had complied with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards and its associated codes of practice in the delivery of care. We found that the staff had followed the requirements and principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). Staff we spoke with had an understanding of what their role was and what their obligations where in order to maintain people’s rights and were aware of the differences in the implementation of the MCA in a person’s own home.

During the inspection we spoke with many people who used the service. They spoke positively about the support they received to make decisions about their care and in general. They said “The staff are very friendly, always helpful, they help me when I need them and leave me alone when I don’t.”

We found that people’s need were assessed and care and treatment was planned and delivered in line with their individual care plan. One person said "Staff are very friendly they always respond quickly when we need help, I feel safer knowing they are nearby and I know that when needs change I can increase the care package I already have."

People who used the service were protected from the risk of abuse, because the provider had taken reasonable steps to identify the possibility of abuse and prevent abuse from happening. People received care, treatment and support from staff that were competent to carry out their roles and responsibilities.

We looked at the systems in place to see how the quality of service was monitored. We found that good processes were in place, people and their relatives were asked for their views about their care and treatment and these were acted on. There was evidence that learning from incidents had taken place and appropriate actions had been taken.

As part of our inspection we spoke with four people who had received support from the agency with their personal care. We also spoke with four members of staff and looked at a sample of records.

People told us that they had been satisfied with the support they had received with their personal care. They told us that staff had always responded positively to requests for support and that staff had treated them with respect. Comments we received included, “Everyone here is respected, that’s a big thing. You are treated as a human being” and “You’ve only got to say and they do it”.

People told us that they had felt safe with the support they had received and that they had felt confident any concerns they raised would be listened to and addressed by staff. They told us that they had confidence in the staff who had supported them, with one person explaining, “Always somebody on tap who is experienced” and another “Oh yes I do think they know what they are doing”.