What life is like for people using this service:

The service had a team of staff who were skilled and competent in meeting people’s individual needs. Staff and the registered manager showed a genuine motivation and passion to deliver personalised care based on people's preferences and likes.

Support was planned and delivered in a structured way to ensure people's safety and welfare. The service met people's assessed needs and outcomes. Staff had access to information about how to support people effectively.

Staff had an excellent understanding of people's needs and provided person centred care which put people at the heart of the service. Staff ensured people's wellbeing, safety and security were protected.

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

Staff had a good understanding of systems in place to manage medicines, safeguarding matters and behaviours that were challenging to others.

Staff were compassionate, kind and caring and had developed good relationships supporting them to stay as independent as possible.

This met the characteristics of good. More information is in the full report.

Rating at last inspection: Good (19 April 2016 )

About the service: Honey Tree Court is a service which provides personal care and support to adults in their own homes. 79 people were receiving a service at the time of the inspection.

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor this service and plan to inspect in line with our inspection schedule for those services rated good.

The inspection took place on 1st March 2016. Honey Tree Court is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care and domestic support to people as part of extra care housing services and also supports people in their own homes. There are currently 118 people who use the service.

The service has a registered manager 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.

Whilst systems were in place to ensure medicine errors were dealt with effectively, improvements were still required with regard to completing people’s medicine administration records (MAR) as these did not always accurately reflect the medicines which people had received.

People were protected from abuse as staff knew what constituted abuse and who to report it to if they suspected it had taken place.

There were sufficient numbers of staff who were recruited appropriately to meet peoples care and support needs and keep them safe.

The service understood how to manage risk in a way that kept people safe whilst respecting people’s rights and freedom to exercise choice and control.

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) is designed to protect people who cannot make decisions for themselves or lack the mental capacity to do so. The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) are part of the MCA. They aim to make sure that people in care homes, hospitals and supported living are looked after in a way that does not inappropriately restrict their freedom. The provider followed the principles of the MCA by ensuring that people consented to their care or were supported by representatives to make decisions.

Staff were supported to carry out their role effectively. Supervision was in place and there was a regular programme of training with opportunities planned for specialist training relevant to meeting the needs of the people using the service.

People were supported to have enough to eat and drink and to access health care services to maintain their health and wellbeing. When people became unwell staff responded quickly and sought the appropriate support.

Care workers had very positive relationships with people who used the services and were valued and held in high regard by people and the families they supported. The care provided was personalised and met people's individual needs and preferences.

People, or their representatives, where appropriate, were involved in making decisions about their care and support and felt listened to and included. Care workers treated people with dignity and respect and promoted people’s independence.

Staff told us that they were well supported by the registered manager and felt confident that any concerns they raised would be listened to and dealt with fairly.

The provider had a complaints procedure in place and people who used the service knew how to use it. People’s concerns and complaints were listened to and addressed in a timely manner.

The provider had systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and this was used constructively to drive improvements.