About the service: Real People provides a service offering community support, supported living, community respite care and support in transition periods for young people and adults who have learning disabilities and other associated needs. The support provided aims to enable people to live as independently as possible.

People’s experience of using this service:

• People told us that staff members were very kind and caring and they looked forwards to their visits. People received exceptional care from staff and the management of the service. The provider truly cared about each person as an individual. And was led by an excellent management team dedicated to delivering the highest standards of care.

• People felt safe and the staff who provided their support made them feel secure. The provider had robust safeguarding procedures in place and staff received training on the subject. Staff understood their responsibilities. The provider supported people to take risks but to remain safe and understand their own safety.

• Staff were safely recruited, and necessary pre-employment checks were completed before staff commenced in post. Staff received a good range of training and support including induction, supervision and appraisals to ensure they were able to deliver their roles safely. Staff felt well supported and equipped to perform their duties.

• People supported with medicines were safe and procedures for risk management was robust.

• Staff were trained in the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and assumed people had the capacity to make decisions unless they had been assessed as being unable to do so. People’s mental capacity had been considered as part of the care planning process.

• Staff encouraged people to have an active role in their care. They were supported to complete aspects of their care that were within their abilities. They empowered people to gain their independence and supported them to improve and enjoy their lives.

• People were involved in their care reviews, they were given plenty of notice of the review, so they could invite representatives to attend with them, and consider questions and concerns they may want to raise.

• The provider was very responsive to people’s needs, and those of their relatives. The provider went the extra mile to ensure that people were living full lives that had meaning to them and engaged them at every opportunity.

• Staff told us they maintained people’s dignity and privacy and promoted their independence. People knew how to complain about the provider however there had been no complaints since we last inspected the service.

• People and staff praised the registered manager and people told us they believed the provider to be very well-led. The staff and management shared the same vision of care and excellent support for people at all times. Audits completed by the provider ensured that all aspects of care were in line with best practice and safe. The provider sought feedback from people receiving a service using an annual quality assurance survey.

• The service met the characteristics of outstanding in care and good in all other areas during the last inspection.

Overall rating at last inspection: Good (report published 19 August 2016).

Why we inspected: This was a scheduled inspection based on the service’s previous rating.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor information that we receive about the service and will return to inspect as per our re-inspection programme or sooner if we have concerns about the service.

The announced inspection took place on the 21, 23 and 24 March 2016.

Real People provides a service offering community support, supported living, community respite care and support in transition periods for young people and adults who have learning disabilities and other associated needs. The support provided aims to enable people to live as independently as possible.

At the time of our inspection the service was providing bespoke, flexible support packages to 26 people.

The offices of the service are situated on the ground floor and within easy reach of transportation services. They are also wheelchair accessible.

The service is required to and did have a registered 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. The registered manager oversees the running of the whole service and is supported by a deputy manager and senior staff all of whom have the necessary training to support the people who use the service.

The service provided outstanding care and support to people that enabled them to live meaningful lives. The service had a strong, visible, person-centred culture which facilitated people and staff to build positive relationships. People and staff repeatedly reported how they felt a strong sense of being surrounded by family. Dignity and confidentiality was valued by staff and were observed to be respectful and caring towards people. Staff understood their roles in relation to encouraging people’s independence whilst mitigating potential risks.

People were provided support in a person centred way by staff who clearly displayed good knowledge of the people they supported. People were helped to identify their own interests and pursue them with staff which had the same interests. Multiple weekly inclusion events took place to avoid social isolation and endorse people’s well-being by creating a friendly community.

Staff had good knowledge of their responsibilities and how to keep people safe. People’s rights were also protected because management and staff understood the framework of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). Management applied such measures appropriately. Medicines were prompted or administered and managed safely where necessary.

There were sufficient numbers of support staff to provide people a flexible and person centred service. People were supported by staff to maintain independence to meet their own nutritional needs. Staff and managers supported people to access healthcare services and worked with a range of health professionals to ensure good health of the people.

A robust recruitment process was in place and staff were recruited and employed upon completion of appropriate checks.

People or their representatives, where appropriate, were involved in making decisions about their care and support. People’s care plans had been tailored to the individual and contained information about their ability to make decisions. The service was flexible and responded positively to people’s requests about their care and how it should be provided.

The service was well led and ran effectively using quality monitoring audits. A complaints procedure was in place and had been used appropriately by management. Systems were in place to make sure that people’s views were gathered.