This was our first inspection since the service was registered by us on 15 December 2015.

SENSE Supported Living Services (Lincolnshire) is registered to provide support for people who live in their own homes. When we inspected the service there were three people receiving support. They all shared a detached residential property in Louth. Each of then held a tenancy with their landlord. Although they shared communal facilities in the property such as the kitchen, lounge and bathroom, each person had their own bedroom.

The service is registered to support younger adults, people who have a learning disability and people who live with autism. It can also support people who need assistance due to having special sensory needs.

The service had an administrative office In Louth that was near to the property in which the people lived.

SENSE Supported Living Services (Lincolnshire) is operated by a national charity that is the registered provider. There was a 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. In this report when we speak both about the charity and the registered manager, we refer to them as being, ‘the registered persons’.

Staff knew how to respond to any concerns that might arise so that people were kept safe from abuse. People had been supported to avoid the risk of accidents and they had been helped to manage their medicines safely. There were enough staff to provide people with the support they needed and background checks had been completed before new staff had been appointed.

Staff had received training and guidance and they knew how to support people in the right way. People had been assisted to plan and prepare their own meals and they had been supported to receive all of the healthcare assistance they needed.

Staff had ensured that people’s rights were respected by helping them to make decisions for themselves. The Care Quality Commission is required by law to monitor how registered persons apply the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and to report on what we find. These safeguards protect people when they are not able to make decisions for themselves and it is necessary to deprive them of their liberty in order to keep them safe. In relation to this, the registered persons had worked with the local authority to ensure that people only received lawful support that respected their rights.

People were treated with kindness, compassion and respect. Staff recognised people’s right to privacy and promoted their dignity. Confidential information was kept private.

People had been consulted about the support they wanted to receive and they had been gently encouraged to be as independent as possible. People had been supported to pursue their work commitments, hobbies and interests. There was a system for quickly and fairly resolving complaints.

People had been consulted about the development of their home. In addition, they had been assisted to liaise with their landlord about making improvements to their home. Quality checks had been regularly completed to ensure that people reliably received all of the support they needed. Staff were supported to speak out if they had any concerns and good team work was promoted. People had benefited from staff acting upon good practice guidance.