Shaftesbury Place is a residential care home for 19 people who live with a physical disability. Some people also live with a learning disability and mental health needs. The service predominantly met the needs of younger adults but also of people under the age of 65 years. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. At the time of the inspection 17 people received care and support under this service. Accommodation for the care home was provided across two floors; on the ground-floor in four units called ‘households’ and on the first floor in three (single occupancy) flats.

The service was also registered to provide ‘personal care’, when required, to people living in their own accommodation. Another nine flats were located on the first floor and were rented by people who had a separate rental agreement in place. Two of these people received support with their personal care to enable them to live as independently as possible. We looked at the support these people were receiving. CQC does not regulate or inspect the private accommodation of people receiving support under this service. People from the nine flats and those who lived in the care home socialised together within Shaftesbury Place.

The home must have a registered manager in post and the same one had remained in post since 2010. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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. People knew who the registered manager was, they liked her and they told us they found her easy to talk with.

At our last inspection on 16, 17 and 18 December 2015 we rated the service ‘Good’. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good. There was no evidence or information from our inspection and on going monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection. At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

This inspection was carried out on 13 and 14 June 2018 and was unannounced.

Why the service continues to be rated ‘Good’.

People received the care and support they required to live safely and as independently as possible. People had access to other health care and social care professionals to support their wellbeing. Staff were knowledgeable and had the right skills to meet people’s physical and psychological needs.

People were encouraged and supported to develop their daily living skills, to improve their overall education and to socialise as they wished to. They were supported to develop friendships and maintain family links. Staff supported people’s independence. They tailored people’s care and support around their needs, abilities, goals and aspirations. People had good relationships with the staff and people’s different communication needs were supported.

People were actively involved in planning and reviewing their care. Where appropriate and if the person wanted, family members were also involved in this. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The policies and systems in the home supported this practice.

Improvements were taking place to make it easier for people to access their care records when they wanted to. Plans included making this possible through an application (an App) on the person’s computer or Smart phone. Complaints could be raised and addressed through the provider’s complaints procedure. Any area of dissatisfaction was taken s

This inspection took place on 16, 17 and 18 December 2015 and was unannounced. At the last inspection of the service in 2013 the service had been fully compliant with the regulations assessed at the time. Shaftesbury Place is a care home which provides accommodation and care to those predominantly with a physical disability. Some people also live with a learning disability and mental health needs. The home can provide care to 19 people and at the time of the inspection 19 people were living at Shaftesbury Place.

The service had a permanent manager in position who had worked with people with the above needs for many years. They had been registered by the Care Quality Commission as the registered manager of the service in 2014. 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 exceptionally committed to ensuring people’s needs were responded to and that their wishes and preferences were met. They achieved this not only in relation to people’s care needs but when life itself produced upset and sadness for people. They did this by working extremely flexibly as a team and by staff being “exceptionally willing”, as one member of staff put it, to achieve excellent outcomes for people. The staff really cared for those they looked after and they provided caring and compassionate care very effectively. People were kept safe at all times and there were enough staff with the right knowledge and level of skill to respond to people’s ever changing needs. People’s care was delivered with their consent and where they were unable to give this they were protected under the Mental Capacity Act (2005). All of this was also achieved by the registered manager and provider fully supporting their staff to be able to improve their practices and knowledge. They valued their staff and provided them with an excellent level of support.

People’s care needs were assessed thoroughly and their care was planned in a very detailed way. Staff saw people as individuals with equal rights and made sure they were at the centre of this process, this resulted in very personalised care being delivered. This required real effort from the staff and management team to achieve. The impact on people was that they had a real quality to their lives. People’s comments told us they liked living at Shaftesbury Place. People said, “I would not change anything about here”, “It’s the best place I have lived” and “I’m really happy here. I have lots of friends here”. One health care professional told us they were always impressed by the care people received. They told us staff went “above and beyond” at times to meet people’s needs. One relative described the staff as being “brilliant”.

Staff worked extremely closely with health care professionals to ensure people’s needs were responded to. When needed they adapted their practices and support to ensure they could respond to people’s needs at the time. Senior staff were knowledgeable and very skilled and they were confident enough to speak up if they felt people were not getting the correct level of attention from health professionals. One health care professional told us staff were always knowledgeable about what they were contacting them about.

The registered manager and her senior staff provided strong leadership and their message about the standard of care people should expect was consistent. The registered manager said, “We strive to make things the best we can for people”. They said, “We must go out of our way to always try and achieve this”. A representative of the provider said, “I have a huge amount of respect for her”. They described the registered manager’s work as being all about the people she cared for . They said, she