Housing and Support Solutions is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care for people who may have learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder, physical disability or mental health needs and who are supported to live independently. The service provides the regulated activity of personal care for five people who live in East Yorkshire, either at the site in Bridlington or Goole.

We undertook this comprehensive inspection on the 16 and 20 February 2017. This was the first inspection for this service.

The service had 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.

People told us they felt safe living at the service. They said that this was because there were staff in the premises over a 24 hour period, and that the premises were safe.

We found the registered manager and staff understood their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. They were aware of the need to gain consent when delivering care and support, and what to do if people lacked capacity to agree to it. People’s abilities to make decisions had been assessed and appropriate support had been provided to ensure that their views were taken into account when making decisions.

People received their medicines as prescribed, from staff who had been training about the management of medicines.

We found people who used the service were protected from the risk of harm and abuse because staff had received safeguarding training and they knew what to do should they have any concerns. Staff were recruited following the organisation’s policies and procedures.

Positive and caring relationships had been developed between staff and people who used the service. We saw people were treated with respect and their dignity was maintained. Staff were seen to speak with people in a kind, attentive and caring way.

Staff supported people to be involved in their care and to make choices about how they spent their time. Wherever possible staff encouraged people’s independence and supported them to access the local community. Care plans contained information on the care people needed and the risks they faced. Staff were aware of people’s health care needs and the support they provided helped to maintain them.

People told us they were happy with their meals. Some people worked alongside staff to prepare their meals and other people had their meals prepared for them by staff.

People who used the service had a wide range of support needs. People received support for between four and 12 hours per day. We found sufficient numbers of staff were employed to ensure people’s needs could be met.

Staff training and the on-going support staff received from the management team meant that the care provided was safe and effective.

There was a quality monitoring system that ensured people’s views were listened to, any complaints were addressed, audits were completed and checks carried out on staff practices and performance.