This inspection took place on 07 June 2017 and was unannounced, which meant the provider did not know we would be visiting the service.

Lang Riggs House is a residential home providing high quality accommodation and personal care for young men and young women between the ages of 16-25 years. The home is in a residential area on the Bolton/Atherton border. The detached property has been built to an exceptionally good standard and is set in extensive mature gardens. The ground floor comprises of lounge/dining area, games room, kitchen, toilet, treatment room, laundry, stores rooms and an office. Upstairs, all bedrooms are single occupancy and there were two bathrooms and a staff bedroom.

At the time of the inspection there were three people living at the home. There was one vacancy and during the inspection a person came to look at the home and speak with staff with a view to moving in.

The home specialises in the care of people who are diagnosed as, recovering from mental health problems, who may require help through talking therapy, taking medications, regulating their emotions and to manage risks to themselves or others due to which they are not ready or not able to live with family or independently.

This was the first inspection of Langs Riggs house since registering with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in 2015.

The registered manager had recently left the service. The registered manager from the company’s other home was in the process of adding Lang Riggs as a second location to their registration. The registered manager had worked across both locations and was based at Lang Riggs. The registered manager was experienced, highly motivated and had extensive knowledge about the service.

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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

All staff at the home were dedicated to providing care to a very high standard of care. They strived for excellence through consultation, they were passionate and dedicated to the young people they were supporting in assisting them to achieve goals and aspirations. The provider’s visions and values were understood and shared across the team, and they were fully supportive of development plans. The culture of the service was open and transparent.

People’s care records were person centred and tailored for them as individuals and where appropriate families were included. People were supported by staff who knew them well and understood their complex needs.

People at the home told us they were happy and felt safe. They were encouraged and supported to follow their own interests and hobbies. Each person planned discussed activities on a weekly basis with staff.

People were encouraged to maintain a healthy and nutritious diet and were including in shopping and meal preparation.

Staffing levels were high to meets people’s needs. Rotas were flexible to ensure that enough staff were available to accompany people on activities or appointments as required.

People lived in a safe environment and risk assessments were carried out to minimise risks without taking away people’s right to make decisions.

Staff spoken with demonstrated an in-depth awareness of the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and associated Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS).

New staff were recruited with the involvement of people who used the service. All checks were in place before they started work and they received a comprehensive induction. The aims and objectives of the induction were specific to the service, to meet the staff team and people who used the service and to understand day to day information.

We found the system for managing medicines was safe and we saw how the staff worked in cooperation with o