Housing and Care 21- Elm Tree Court is registered to provide personal care and support to people living in the self-contained apartments within the complex. People living in the apartments have access to communal facilities including a lounge and dining room.

We inspected Housing and Care 21 - Elm Tree Court on the 20 September 2017 and the inspection was announced. This was the first inspection of the service since registration. At the time of inspection the agency was providing care and support to 38 people.

At the time of inspection there was 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.

There were systems in place that ensured people received their care on time, people were kept safe and their needs were met. Safeguarding adults’ procedures were robust and staff understood how to safeguard the people they supported. There was a whistle blowing procedure available and staff said they would use it if they needed to. The service had systems in place to manage accidents and incidents whilst trying to reduce reoccurrence.

Medicine records showed people were receiving their medicines as prescribed. However, records did not show the time medicines were given. There were enough staff on duty to meet people's needs. The provider conducted appropriate recruitment checks before staff started employment to ensure they were suitable to work in the caring profession.

Staff received supervision and training both to meet people’s needs and to enable them to carry out their roles effectively. There were processes in place to ensure new staff to the service received appropriate induction training.

The registered manager demonstrated a good understanding of their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and staff demonstrated good knowledge of the people they supported and their capacity to make decisions.

People’s nutritional needs and preferences were met and people had access to health and social care professionals when required.

People told us they were involved in planning the care and support they received and staff respected their wishes and met their needs. However, records looked at did not always show all of the people who was involved in this process.

People who used the service and their relatives knew about the complaints procedure and said they believed their complaints would be investigated and action taken if necessary. People told us they thought the service was well run and that the registered manager was supportive.

There were effective quality assurance monitoring systems in place and the registered manager recognised the importance of regularly monitoring the quality of the service provided. People and their relatives were provided with opportunities to provide feedback about the service.

The registered manager was aware of their responsibilities in relation to notifying the Commission (CQC) about reportable incidents.