Harry Caplan House provides housing with care. The unit consists of 32 flats; people live in their own home and have a tenancy agreement with Whitefriars Housing. Staff provide personal care and support to people at pre-arranged times and in emergencies. At the time of our visit there were 25 people using the service.

At the last inspection, in June 2015, the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

People continued to receive care and support which protected them from avoidable harm and abuse. Risks to people’s safety were identified and measures were in place to help reduce these risks. When people required support to take their medicines as prescribed, they were only supported by staff when they had received the training to do so.

The care people received continued to be effective. Staff received training linked to the needs of people who lived at the home. People were encouraged to make their own decisions and choices and staff checked people wanted care before helping them. People where required were assisted to access health and social care professionals.

People had built caring relationships with staff who spoke warmly about people they cared for. Staff knew what was important to people and encouraged them to maintain their independence. People were treated with kindness, dignity and respect.

People and their relatives’ views and suggestions were listened to when people’s care was planned. Systems were in place to manage complaints. People and their relatives knew how to raise any complaints or concerns.

People and their relatives were complimentary about the way the service was managed. The registered manager had conducted regular checks and audits to assess and monitor the quality of the support and care provided.

We undertook an announced inspection of Harry Caplan House on 3 March February 2015. We told the provider before our visit that we would be coming. This was so people could give consent for us to visit them in their flats to talk with them.

Harry Caplan House provides housing with care. The unit consists of 32 flats; people live in their own home and have a tenancy agreement with Whitefriars Housing. Staff provide personal care and support to people at pre-arranged times and in emergencies. At the time of our visit there were 30 people using the service.

The service had 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.

People who used the service said they felt safe at Harry Caplan House. Staff knew what they should do to keep people safe and there were processes in place to protect people from the risk of harm. These included a procedure to manage risks associated with people’s care and an effective procedure for managing people’s medicines.

Staff gained people’s consent before they provided personal care and supported people to maintain their independence. Staff had good knowledge about the people they supported and provided care and support in the way people preferred.

There were enough suitably trained staff to meet people’s individual support needs and to provide a responsive service. People were happy with the care they received and said staff were caring and friendly. Staff respected people’s privacy and maintained people’s dignity when providing care.

Care plans detailed how people wished to receive their care and people were involved in making decisions about their care and support. People said they were listened to and there were processes in place for people to express their views and opinions about the service. People were confident they could raise any concerns about their care or support.

Staff said they were supported by the managers and felt confident they could raise any concerns or issues. There were processes in place to assess and monitor the quality of service provided. This was through feedback from people who used the service, staff meetings and a programme of checks and audits. The managers and staff were motivated and committed to provide a quality service to people, and this was reflected in the positive comments we received from all the people we spoke with about the service.

Harry Caplan House provides housing with care. People live in their own flats and staff provide support at pre- arranged times. We visited the service on Tuesday 30 April 2013. There were 25 people using the service on the day of our visit. During our visit we spoke with five people who used the service, the manager, assistant manager and two members of staff.

We looked at the care records of three people who used the service. We were satisfied people were receiving the care they had consented to. We found care plans provided staff with sufficient information about people’s support needs and explained how care staff were to provide support safely.

People we spoke with said they were happy with the care they received. People told us “I know all the staff really well” and “They are more like family than staff.”

Staff we spoke with knew how to recognise symptoms of abuse and what to do to keep people safe. We found people received their medication at the times prescribed. There were processes in place to safely recruit staff and provide staff with the training and support to meet the care needs of people.

We found the record keeping in the agency was not always accurate or up to date. This could result in people receiving inappropriate or unsafe care.

We found the provider to be compliant in the areas of involvement and information; safeguarding and safety, staffing and quality management. However, they were non-compliant in one area regarding the care and welfare of people using the service.

We spoke to staff, observed policies and processes, examined three staff records, reviewed three sets of notes and spoke to four people using the service to gain further insight of the care provided.

People using the service were very happy at the home and satisfied with the care they received. Many had lived there for a number of years and found the carers to be friendly and very caring. One person told us they really loved living there. Another said “the carers are wonderful”. It was generally felt that the service met their needs and staff treated them with dignity and respect.

We saw evidence of quality management processes to audit the quality of care and seek people’s views on the care they receive. Meetings were used to discuss new information and matters important to tenants and staff.

Risk assessments were in place but were not appropriately updated and risks were highlighted with insufficient evidence to show how they were managed. Incidents were reported which identified themes that were not appropriately addressed.

There were processes in place to recruit staff and support training. Staff told us they enjoyed working there and could not imagine working anywhere else. "It's like a family" they said.

People told us that they were consulted about the care they received. They said that their needs and preferences were discussed and agreed with them.

People we spoke with said that care workers treated them with respect and always maintained their privacy. “I get three calls, some involve personal care. I feel the staff are always respectful and I never feel rushed.” We saw that staff were knowledgeable of people’s needs and were kind, caring and attentive towards them.

The people we spoke with told us staff encouraged them to maintain their independence and skills. One person said, “The staff let me do the things I can and help me with things I can't do.”

Relatives we spoke with said that staff are always respectful and their relatives are well looked after. One relative said “I can’t begin to tell you the change moving here has made for dad. Staff are great with him he is not always easy to deal with” another relative told us, “Staff are fantastic, my mum is really happy here, she is looked after extremely well.”

The files we looked at contained care plans and risk assessments. Not all risks associated with moving and handling had been assessed and this could place people at risk of harm or injury. Staff we spoke with understood the importance of monitoring pressure areas. However there was no information in care plans about how pressure areas are assessed or managed and this is a potential risk.

All of the people we spoke with told us they felt safe living at Harry Caplan House and said staff were kind and supportive. Staff we spoke with demonstrated a good understanding of their role and their responsibility to protect people. Staff knew about the whistle blowing procedure and said they would report poor practice to the office.

People who use the service told us they had information about making complaints and would talk to staff if they were unhappy with anything.