Primrose Avenue - Crewe is part of the David Lewis organisation and is registered to provide accommodation for four people who require support and care with their daily lives. The two-storey domestic type property is close to shops, public transport and other local amenities.

The home is a detached house in the area of Haslington in Crewe. At the time of our inspection there were four people living there.

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

We spoke with the people who lived in the home and two relatives who all gave positive feedback about the home and the staff who worked in it. We saw that people were living busy, independent lives, supported by a willing staff team who were encouraging and supportive.

Staff spoken with and records seen confirmed training had been provided to enable them to support the people with their specific needs. We found staff were knowledgeable about the support needs of people in their care. We observed staff providing support to people throughout our inspection visit. We saw they had positive relationships with the people in their care. There was a happy, warm atmosphere in the home.

The residential manager understood the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). This meant they were working within the law to support people who may lack capacity to make their own decisions. We saw that people were supported to make their own decisions and their choices were respected. Assistive technology was in place to maximise people’s independence and the least restrictive options had been taken.

Care plans were person-centred and driven by the people who lived who lived in the home. They detailed how people wished and needed to be cared for. They were regularly reviewed and updated as required. Maximising people’s independence was a clear focus in all of the care plans we looked at.

We found medication procedures at the home were safe. Staff responsible for the administration of medicines had received training to ensure they had the competency and skills required.

The residential manager used a variety of methods to assess and monitor the quality of the service. These included regular audits of the service and staff meetings to seek the views of staff about the service. The staff team were consistent and long standing. They demonstrated that they were committed to providing the best care possible for the people living in the home.

We undertook an inspection of 30 Primrose Avenue on the 14 May 2014. We spoke with the two people using the service, the residential manager and one of the support staff members during our visit.

We considered all the evidence we had gathered under the outcomes we inspected. We used the information to answer the five questions we always ask.

• Is the service safe?

• Is the service effective?

• Is the service caring?

• Is the service responsive?

• Is the service well led?

Below is a summary of what we found. The summary is based on our observations during the inspection, speaking with people using the service, their relatives; the staff supporting them and from looking at records.

If you want to see the evidence supporting our summary please read the full report.

Is the service safe?

The home only opened in July 2013 and was very well appointed and maintained throughout.

Training records highlighted that staff were up to date with all mandatory training needed to support people living at the home.

The residential manager advised us that appropriate procedures, including review were in place should anyone need to be subject to a Deprivation of Liberty Safeguard (DoLS) application or plan. DoLS is part of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and aims to ensure people in care homes and hospitals are looked after in a way that does not inappropriately restrict their freedom unless it is in their best interests.

Is the service effective?

The people using the service who were able to tell us said that they were happy living in the home and that they were being well supported by the staff members working there.

The staff members we spoke with could show that they had a good understanding of the people they were supporting and they were able to meet their various needs.

Is the service caring?

We observed that staff interacted well with the people living in the home and the relationships we saw were warm, respectful, dignified and with plenty of smiles and laughter.

The two staff members said that they felt supported to do their job and had received regular formal supervision. (These are regular meetings between an employee and their line manager to discuss any issues that may affect the staff member; this would include a discussion of ongoing training needs).

Is the service responsive?

The care plans had been written in a person centred manner. This meant that the individualised care plans focused on the person's individual assessed needs and on how they could be met. The care plans focused on providing support to an individual in different aspects of their daily life, for example how the person was to be supported with promoting their independence and any issues regarding their health so that they were kept as healthy as possible. We asked the people using the service if they were involved in planning their support and they both said that they were.

Is the service well-led?

The staff members we spoke to said that the home was well managed and they enjoyed working there.

We saw that the provider had an effective system to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people received.

The inspection was unannounced and took place on18 March and 29 May 2015. This location was last inspected in January 2014 when it was found to be compliant with all the regulations which applied to a service of this type.

Primrose Avenue is part of the David Lewis Centre which supports adults with complex needs to attain quality of life and to maximise their potential in a safe residential environment. The home is a detached house in a quiet residential area in the village of Haslington near Crewe. The house has four bedrooms each with en suite facilities and is part of the David Lewis "Community Programme". The house draws on the rest of the David Lewis Centre for certain support arrangements most notably clinical, social work and administrative services. There were three people living in the home at the time of our inspection.

There is a registered manager at Primrose Avenue. 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.

We found that care was provided in an environment which was as homely as possible. Staff went to considerable lengths to make sure that people who lived there experienced it as their own home and undertook the same tasks and made the same choices as other people living in the community. Staff were informed about the need to safeguard people, were provided with right information they needed to do this, and knew what to do if they had a concern.

The home was well-decorated and maintained and adapted where required. People had their own bedrooms. Care was arranged with the needs of the people who used the service as the principal concern so that they had choices about their care and how they lived their lives. As well as community facilities people also had access to the specialist services available at the main David Lewis Site.

As part of the larger David Lewis Centre the home benefitted from being able to use many of the corporate systems which the main provider had developed. This meant that the home was well managed.