We undertook an announced inspection of Scott’s Road on 16 November 2016. We gave the provider 24 hours’ notice because the location was a small supported living service and we wanted to make sure that the manager and staff would be available to assist with the inspection. The service was registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on 19 August 2015 and had not been inspected before.

Scott’s Road is part of Infinity Services, and is a seven bedded unit, designed over two floors. Scott’s Road provides supported living for seven adults with a learning disability and/or mental health needs. The management team is based at the service. The provider is also registered to provide supported living for five adults with mental health needs who live at a nearby location (Shrubbery Road). Each person living at both locations had a tenancy agreement with a landlord to rent their individual bedrooms and share the common areas of the house such as the kitchen, bathrooms, lounge and dining areas. Most of the bedrooms at Shrubbery Road were ensuite so people did not need to share bathrooms with other tenants.

The service is required to have a registered manager and there was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection. 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. They were supported by a compliance manager, a team leader and a team of support workers led by a senior support worker.

People told us they felt safe and we saw that there were systems and processes in place to protect people from the risk of harm whilst giving them the chance to take positive risks. There were enough staff on duty to meet people’s needs and there were contingency plans in the event of staff absence to ensure people’s safety.

Staff had received training in safeguarding adults and this was updated regularly. There was a safeguarding policy and procedure in place. There had not been any safeguarding issues at the service since they had registered.

Effective systems were in place to ensure the safe management of people’s prescribed medicines and staff had received training in the administration of medicines.

The provider had systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and ensured that areas for improvements were identified and addressed.

Staff had undertaken training in the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and were aware of its principles. We were told and saw that people were given choices and the opportunities to make decisions, and records were signed by people to indicate that consent was obtained.

People’s nutritional needs were being met. Staff supported people to shop for their food and cook their own meals if they wished to.

Staff received effective training, supervision and appraisal. The registered manager sought guidance and support from other healthcare professionals and kept themselves informed of important developments within the social care sector in order to cascade information to staff, thus ensuring that the staff team was well informed and trained to deliver effective support to people.

Staff were caring and treated people with dignity and respect and in a way that took account of their diversity, values and human rights. Care plans were in place and people had their needs assessed. Care records contained detailed information and reflected the needs and wishes of the individual so staff had the information they required to meet people’s needs.

People, relatives, staff and stakeholders told us the registered manager, management team and staff were supportive and professional. The management team said they encouraged an open and transparent culture within the service. The service supported people to raise concerns and used f