This unannounced inspection of Morley Road took place on 30 and 31 January 2017. The inspection was conducted by an adult social care inspector.

Located in a residential area of Southport, Morley Road is a four bedroomed house that provides 24-hour support to four people who have a profound learning disability. The home is situated close to Southport town centre, local community facilities and public transport links.

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 was on leave at the time of our inspection.

We were unable to speak to the people living at the home, however we did observe the care and support for one person, and we spoke to the family member of another person, who told us they felt Morley Road was a safe place for the person to live and their relative was kept safe from harm.

People told us there were enough suitably trained staff to meet their individual care needs. Staff were only appointed after a thorough recruitment process. Staff were available to support people to go on trips or visits within the local and wider community and attend medical appointments. People were also support to pursue hobbies and other personal interests.

People received their medicines as prescribed and safe practices had been followed in the administration and recording of medicines.

External safety checks by contractors were taking place.

People had been referred to healthcare professionals when needed.

The deputy manager and the staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and associated legislation and had taken appropriate steps to ensure people exercised choice were possible. Where people did not have capacity, this was documented appropriately and decisions were made in their best interest with the involvement of family members where appropriate and relevant health care professionals. This showed the provider understood and was adhering to the Mental Capacity Act 2005.This is legislation to protect and empower people who may not be able to make their own decisions.

The provider was meeting their requirements set out in the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). DoLS is part of the Mental Capacity Act (2005).

We observed staff delivering support with kindness. They knew people well and were aware of their history, preferences and dislikes. People’s privacy and dignity were upheld. Staff monitored people’s health and welfare needs and acted on issues identified.

Some people were making use of advocacy services at the time of our inspection.

Care plans with regards to people’s preferred routines and personal preferences were well documented and plainly written to enable staff to gain a good understanding of the person they were supporting. Care plans contained a high level of person centred information. Person centred means the service was tailored around the needs of the person, and not the organisation.

We discussed complaints with the deputy manager. Complaints had been responded to by the registered manager and appropriately dealt with including any changes which needed to be implemented because of the complaint.

Quality assurance procedures were robust and identified when actions needed to be implemented to drive improvements. We saw that quality assurance procedures were highly organised and processes had been implemented from another internal source to help support the service to continuously improve. We were shown these procedures by the deputy manager during our inspection.

Feedback had been gathered from people who used the service in the form of questionnaires. This was presented in a way people understood.

During our inspection we spent time with people and invited them to share with us their views and experience of living at Morley Road. One person communicated to us that they were well looked after and liked going out to local community facilities.

Family members we contacted as part of the inspection were satisfied with the care and pleased that staff involved them in decision making on behalf of their relative. A family member told us their relative was happy living there and said, “I get asked my opinion when the care is being reviewed. They [staff] involve me in everything.” Another family member said, “It’s a wonderful place. The staff are kind and friendly. They take [relative] shopping, to the cinema and on holidays.”

The care and support documentation we looked at was centred on the person. It included sufficient detail for staff to understand and respond to the person’s individualised needs.

People received adequate food and drinks and could choose what to have for their meals.

There were sufficient numbers of staff in place and they had the appropriate experience to support the people at Morley Road.

Arrangements were in place to regularly monitor the safety and suitability of the environment.