About the service:

119 Victoria Street is a residential care home. It provides accommodation and personal care for up to three adults with a learning disability. At the time of the inspection there were three people living at the service.

People’s experience of using this service:

People were supported by a small but consistent staff team who were kind and caring. Staff had good relationships with people and knew them well. People were encouraged and supported to maintain their independence. The care service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

Care plans were person centred and included people’s individual goals for the coming year.

People had active and varied social lives. People told us they were supported to attend the activities they wanted to and that they enjoyed them. Relationships were supported both within and outside the service. Visitors were welcomed. The service was clean and tidy.

Feedback was sought from people and staff through meetings and questionnaires. People told us they felt comfortable in raising any concerns or issues.

For more details, please see the full report which is on CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection: Good (June 2016).

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Mr and Mrs T A Mills - 119 Victoria Street is a care home providing care for three service users with learning disabilities. The property is a two-storey terraced house located on the outskirts of Cinderford.

Mr and Mrs T A Mills - 119 Victoria Street did not have 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 made positive comments about living at 119 Victoria Street, comments such as “brilliant” and “we never want to move”. One person told us “we like living together”. Risks to people’s safety were identified, assessed and appropriate action taken and their medicines were safely managed. People’s individual needs were known to staff who had achieved positive relationships with them. People were treated with kindness, their privacy and dignity was respected and they were supported to develop their independence and keep in contact with relatives. People were involved in the planning and review of their care.

Staff received support to develop knowledge and skills for their role. They spoke positively about their work with people. The acting manager was accessible to people using the service and staff.

We conducted this inspection to follow-up with the provider the actions they had taken to compliance actions we had issued. We found that the provider had addressed the concerns which we had detailed in the previous inspection report.

We found that the provider was ensuring that the service had respected the privacy and dignity of people who lived at the home. We were able to speak briefly with two people living at the Service. They told us that "we have enough support" and “I don't want to live anywhere else". Assessment and reviews conducted by the service had consulted with people who used the service and recorded how they wished to be supported. Each person living at the home had set goals for the coming year. Almost all of the goals, which they had set for the previous year, had been met. A review of staffing hours and training had ensured that there were sufficient skilled and experienced staff to safely meet the needs of people who used the service.

In summary, this inspection found that the service at 119 Victoria Street was providing a good standard of care and support to the people who were living there.

We found that the home was providing a service which had respected the privacy and dignity of people who used their service. People told us:” that I really enjoy living here” and how “staff are really good and help me to look after myself". People also told us that “this is a really good place to live". Regular reviews of support plans ensured that the likes/dislikes and choices of people using the service had been recorded and respected by staff. Support plans had recorded the goals chosen by people living at the home for the coming year. Staff only worked at the home for a relatively short period each day - during the week. The manager is also responsible for the management of another home operated by the same provider and is not based at the service. No staff worked at the home over the weekend - as the provider had assessed that people living there were sufficiently independent. The provider must conduct a staffing needs assessment, to ensure that there are sufficient skilled and experienced staff, to safely meet the needs of people who use the service. The extent of induction and subsequent training/supervision for staff was unclear. The provider must review the frequency and how staff are supervised. The home had been well maintained and there were detailed systems to monitor health and safety at the property. There were also regular audits conducted of the environment, and other areas of how the service was operating, as an element of quality assurance monitoring.