The inspection visit took place on 28 September 2017 and was unannounced.

Oak House provides residential accommodation and support for up to 16 adults with mental health needs. At the time of our inspection visit, 12 people were living there. At our last inspection, in May 2015, the service was rated Good. At this inspection, the service remained Good.

There was no registered manager in post. The operations manager was acting as interim manager. 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. However, a new manager had been recruited and was due to commence in post a few days after our inspection.

People continued to receive care that made them feel safe and where possible were supported to manage their own medication. Staff understood how to protect people from abuse and harm. Risks to people were assessed and guidance about how to manage these was available for staff to refer to/follow.

People continued to receive effective support from staff with a sufficient level of skills and knowledge to meet their specific needs. People were not unduly restricted and were enabled wherever possible to have maximum choice and control of their lives. People were assisted to access appropriate healthcare support and take an adequate diet.

The care people received was provided with compassion. People were supported to express their views and be involved as much as possible in making decisions about their support needs. Staff supported people to exercise choice, independence and control, wherever possible. People’s diverse needs were recognised and staff enabled people to access the activities they wished to be involved in.

The provider had effective systems in place to regularly review people’s care provision, with their involvement. People’s care was personalised to them and care plans contained information about the person, their needs, lifestyle choices and cultural needs. Care staff knew people’s individual needs and goals. People were able to speak openly with staff and tell them if they were unhappy or wanted to make a complaint.

The service continued to be well-led, including on-going checks and monitoring of the quality of the service. People and staff were positive about the leadership skills of the management team in place. Arrangements were in place to obtain people, staff and the local communities views about the service.

The inspection visit took place on 15 May 2015 and was unannounced. This was the first inspection for this location following registration with us in March 2014.

Oak House provides residential accommodation and support for up to 14 adults with mental health needs. At the time of our inspection visit, nine people were living there.

There was no 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. However, the new manager had submitted an application to be registered with us.

People that lived at the home felt safe in the knowledge that staff were available to support them. Staff knew how to reduce the risk of harm to people from abuse and unsafe practices. The risk of harm to people had been assessed and managed appropriately. The provider had systems in place to keep people safe and protect them from the risk of harm and ensured people received their medication as prescribed.

There were sufficient numbers of staff available to meet people’s identified needs. The provider ensured staff were safely recruited and they received the necessary training to meet the support needs of people.

The provider took the appropriate action to protect people’s rights and all staff were aware of how to protect the rights of people.

People’s health and support needs were met. People were able to choose what they ate and drank and supported to access health care professionals to ensure their health care needs were met. Staff were caring and treated people with respect and dignity.

There were a range of social and leisure activities that people could choose to take part in. There was a complaints process that people and relatives knew about. People’s concerns were listened to and addressed quickly.

The provider had established management systems to assess and monitor the quality of the service provided. This included gathering feedback from people who used the service.