This comprehensive inspection took place on the 22 November 2017.

Maple Cottage is a residential care home that provides personal care and support for up to five people who have a learning disability and/or autistic spectrum disorder. People using the service live in a single house located within a residential community setting. People living in care homes receive accommodation and personal care and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. At the time of our inspection there were four people living at the service.

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

A Registered Manager was 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.

The registered manager had clear aims and objectives for the service. There was ongoing work to embed the values of providing personalised care, promoting independence, choice, rights and empowerment. We saw that the registered manager and staff put these values into practice.

This service was provided in line with the values that underpin the ‘Registering the Right Support’ and other best practice guidance. These values include supporting people with choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service are supported to live as ordinary a life as any other citizen.

People were treated with dignity and respect and staff interacted with people in a kind, caring and sensitive manner. Staff demonstrated a good knowledge of their roles and responsibilities in recognising abuse and safeguarding procedures with steps they should take to protect people.

The registered manager had a system in place to ensure appropriate recruitment checks had been carried out before staff started working at the service. There were sufficient numbers of skilled, trained and qualified staff on duty. Staff told us that they felt well supported in their role and we saw that staff had received regular supervision and training relevant to the roles they were employed to perform.

We found that detailed assessments had been carried out prior to admission to the service. Care plans had been developed around each individual’s needs and preferences. We saw that there were comprehensive risk assessments in place and plans to guide staff in how the risks identified were to be managed and mitigated. People were supported with taking informed, every day risks and encouraged to take part in daily activities and outings. We saw that appropriate assessments had been carried out where people living at the service were not able to make decisions for themselves, to help ensure their rights were protected.

People’s medicines had been stored safely. There were clear personalised protocols in place to guide staff as to how people liked to take their medicines and identified allergies.

People were relaxed in the presence of staff. Where people lacked capacity to air their views verbally, staff supported people with opportunities to communicate through pictorial aids and visual prompts, appropriate for the individual. Relative’s told us they were happy with the service provided and were able to raise concerns and there were systems in place to ensure people could be confident they would be listened to and appropriate action taken.

People were supported to be able to eat and drink sufficient amounts to meet their needs and were offered choice. Where assessed as appropriate people were supported to develop their independence and gain life skills. People had access to a range of health

This inspection took place on the 11 May 2016 and was unannounced.

Maple Cottage is registered to provide a residential care service with support for up to five people with a learning disability and/or autistic spectrum disorder. On the day of our inspection there were three people living at the service.

There was a registered manager who was on long term leave from the service. Another registered manager from another of the provider’s services who was also a director was covering during the registered manager’s absence. 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.

The safety of people who used the service was taken seriously. The registered manager and staff were aware of their responsibility to protect people’s health and wellbeing. There were processes in place to ensure people’s safety, including risk assessments with guidance for staff with actions to take to safeguard people from the risk of harm. These identified how the risks to people’s safety were minimised and ensured people’s human rights, to choice and freedom were safeguarded.

Medicines were stored in a safe place. Staff had been trained. Where people required assistance to take their medicines, there were arrangements in place to provide this support safely.

There were sufficient numbers of care staff available to provide one to one care and support according to people’s assessed needs. Care staff were trained and supported to meet people’s individual needs. There was a consistent team of skilled staff who had developed good relationships with the people they cared for.

There were systems in place to ensure that people’s rights to respect, privacy and dignity were promoted and respected.

People and or their representatives, where appropriate, were involved in making decisions about their care and support. Where people were not able to give informed consent, staff and the manager ensured their human rights were protected. Staff and the registered manager had a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and associated Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). People’s care plans had been tailored to the individual and contained information about how they communicated and their ability to make decisions.

The service was committed to providing personalised care and ensured that people using the service were consulted about how they lived their everyday lives. People were supported to access holidays and activities according to their personal choice and preferences.

The culture of the service was open, inclusive, empowering and enabled people to live as full a life as possible according to their choices, wishes and preferences. The management team provided effective leadership to the service and enabled people to air their views through care reviews, one to one meetings. The manager and the provider carried out regular quality and safety audits of the service. These identified any shortfalls in delivery of the quality or safety of the service, with actions planned including timescales to evidence planning for continuous improvement of the service.

The provider had a complaints policy which detailed the procedure for logging a complaint and was available in easy read format for people to view. Relative’s told us they knew who the manager was and would speak directly with them if they had any concerns.