We inspected the service on 17 July 2018. The inspection was unannounced.

People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. Sheepwalk House accommodates up to 5 people with a learning disability or with an autistic spectrum disorder in one house. On the day of our inspection, 4 people were using the service.

The care service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

At the last inspection on 12 February 2016, the service was rated ‘Good’ overall and requires improvement within effective. This was because of improvements required to staff training and supervision. At this inspection, improvements had been made in training and an action plan was in place to ensure supervisions were held at consistent frequencies. We found the evidence continued to support an overall rating of Good. There was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing 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.

People felt safe at the service and staff had been trained and understood what steps to take to safeguard people from abuse or poor practice. Pre-employment checks were completed to help the provider recruit staff who were suitable to work in a care environment. Medicines were managed safely and steps were taken to help protect against the risks of infection. People were cared for by sufficient staff and incidents were analysed to help inform improvements.

Staff were trained and were knowledgeable on people’s care needs. People had choice and control over their lives and staff cared for people in the least restrictive way possible. The provider understood their responsibility to ensure people could make decisions about their care or be supported by others to make decisions in their best interests. The premises had been adapted to meet people’s needs and support their interests. Staff felt well supported and further steps were planned to ensure supervision meetings were held at consistent frequencies. People’s nutritional and hydration needs were met and received care from other professionals to help maintain good health.

Staff had developed positive relationships with people and were kind and caring in their interactions with people. People’s privacy and dignity was respected and their independence promoted. People were supported to share their views and be involved in their care. Relatives and health and social care professionals were involved with planning care to help ensure the best outcomes for people.

People received personalised and responsive care as staff knew how to meet people’s needs. People had active lifestyles and were able to develop and maintain their hobbies and interests, both at home and in the local community. There were processes in place for people to raise any complaints and express their views and opinions about the service provided.

There were systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service and enable the provider to identify and drive improvement. Relatives and staff were positive about the management team and the open and inclusive management style. The provider completed robust audits of the performance of the service and an ongoing action plan that showed how the service was continually improving.

Say when the inspection took place and whether the inspection was announced or unannounced. Where relevant, describe any breaches of legal requirements at your last inspection, and if so whether improvements have been made to meet the relevant requirement(s).

Provide a brief overview of the service (e.g. Type of care provided, size, facilities, number of people using it, whether there is or should be a registered manager etc).

N.B. If there is or should be a registered manager include this statement to describe what a registered manager is:

‘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.’

Give a summary of your findings for the service, highlighting what the service does well and drawing attention to areas where improvements could be made. Where a breach of regulation has been identified, summarise, in plain English, how the provider was not meeting the requirements of the law and state ‘You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.’ Please note that the summary section will be used to populate the CQC website. Providers will be asked to share this section with the people who use their service and the staff that work at there.

In this report the name of a registered manager appears who was not in post and not managing the regulatory activities at this location at the time of the inspection. Their name appears because they were still a Registered Manager on our register at the time. The provider has taken action to remove the person from our register as the Registered Manager at this location. The manager in post at the time of our inspection is in the process of applying to be the Registered Manager for this location.

We spoke with a person who uses the service who said, “I mostly like living here. Staff listen to me.” We saw that relatives of people using the service had been asked to provide information about their relatives.

During our inspection we saw that people were encouraged to act independently. We talked with three staff who were all able to discuss the care and welfare needs of individual people using the service.

We spoke with a person receiving support who said, “It’s clean here and my rooms gets cleaned regularly.” We saw that all staff had completed Infection Control training.

Staff told us, “I feel supported by the management team and when I’ve raised issues they’ve been dealt with.” Staff received appropriate induction training and professional development. Regular supervision meetings were held between the staff and the manager.

We saw complaints received in the last year had been dealt with appropriately and in a timely manner.

A person told us they had read their care plan and could speak with staff about what they wanted to do. They told us that staff did respect their privacy and they could choose what food they wanted to eat.

A person told us they went to the park, shopping, bowling and to the cinema. They also went to a theatre group and church. They said, “I am happy here.”

A person told us that another person living at the service was loud but they did feel safe. They told us they were happy with their room.

A person told us there were enough staff. A person told us they would talk to staff if they were unhappy. They also told us there were regular meetings of people who use services to talk about living at the service.