The inspection took place on 6 April 2017 and was announced.

Oak Trees provides accommodation and support in the form of short respite stays, for a maximum of four people with a learning disability. Visits are normally for up to two weeks in duration. The service also provides support and personal care for people with a learning disability who are living in their own homes or shared tenancies. At the time of our inspection, there were three people using the respite service and 20 people receiving support in their own homes.

A new service provider had registered with us the year before our inspection took place. There was a registered manager in place who had been in post for a long time, and under the previous provider. 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.

Staff were trained to recognise signs that might show someone was at risk of abuse or harm. They knew the importance of reporting their concerns to promote people’s safety. The management team took action to reinforce this with staff when they needed to.

Staff had guidance about how to minimise risks to people’s safety and welfare. Staff supported people to understand risks themselves and to learn what they could do to promote their own safety and welfare. This included encouragement for people to manage their own medicines fully or in part, if they were able to and wished to do so. Where staff supported people with their medicines, they did so in a safe way.

Although staff turnover had increased following a change of ownership of the service, this had stabilised and there was a core of long-standing, experienced staff. There were enough staff on duty, who were trained to meet people’s needs and recruited in a way that contributed to promoting people’s safety.

Staff understood the importance of seeking consent and encouraging people to make their own decisions. If someone’s capacity to make an informed decision was in doubt, staff consulted others who knew the person well. They involved the person, professionals and families to help determine what was in the person’s best interests. This included when people needed appointments to maintain their health or receive treatment. Staff incorporated professionals' views into the way that they offered support. Staff enabled people to access health care professionals to promote their wellbeing if they needed assistance in this area.

People using the care home service had a choice of enough to eat and drink to ensure their wellbeing. Where people needed support in their own homes with food and drink as part of their care package, they received it. The management team planned to introduce a more formal and consistent assessment in future.

There was a friendly and cheerful atmosphere between staff and people using the service, both in the care home and in their own homes. People’s privacy and dignity was promoted and staff treated people with warmth and respect. People were encouraged to say how they wanted staff to deliver their care and, in some cases, to draw up their own guidance for their support staff.

The management team took account of people’s support needs when they were planning respite stays and the mix of people who would be using the care home service. They reviewed people’s needs each time they came to use the respite service to see whether anything had changed. Staff knew about people’s individual needs and preferences. They knew how to meet these and had guidance within care plans focused on each person. Staff acknowledged that it was sometimes difficult to meet the recreational and social needs of people when they were receiving respite care. This was in part due to a lack of transport, which staff and people usi