We inspected Summer Lodge on the 13 February 2017.

The service provides accommodation and support for up to six people with learning disabilities. There were five people living at the service at the time of our inspection. Due to their complex needs people found it difficult to communicate with us verbally. However people were able to communicate with sounds and gestures.

At our last inspection the service was rated as Good. At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

The service was safe. Care and treatment was planned and delivered in a way that was intended to ensure people's safety and welfare. People were cared for safely by staff who had been recruited and employed after appropriate checks had been completed. People’s needs were met by sufficient numbers of staff. Medication was dispensed by staff who had received training to do so.

The service was effective. People were cared for and supported by staff who had received training to support people to meet their needs. The registered manager had a good understanding of their responsibilities in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. People were supported to eat and drink enough as to ensure they maintained a balanced diet and referrals to other health professionals were made when required.

The service was caring. Staff cared for people in an empathetic and kind manner. Staff had a good understanding of people’s preferences of care. Staff always worked hard to promote people’s independence through encouraging and supporting people to make informed choices.

The service was responsive. People and their relatives were involved in the planning and review of their care. Care plans were reviewed on a regular basis and also when there was a change in care needs. People were supported to follow their interests and participate in social activities. The registered manager responded to complaints received in a timely manner.

The service was well-led. The service had systems in place to monitor and provide good care and these were reviewed on a regular basis.

We inspected Summer Lodge on the 14 May 2015.

The service provides accommodation and support for up to six people with learning disabilities. There were five people living at the service at the time of our inspection. Due to their complex needs people found it difficult to communicate with us verbally. However people were able to communicate with sounds and gestures. To help us gather views we also spoke with people’s relatives.

The service has 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.

People were cared for by staff that had been recruited and employed after appropriate checks were completed. There were enough staff available to support people. People's care and treatment was planned and delivered in a way that was intended to ensure people's safety and welfare. Records were regularly updated and staff were provided with the information they needed to meet people’s needs.

Staff and the manager were able to explain to us what they would do to keep people safe and how they would protect their rights. Staff had been provided with training in safeguarding adults from abuse, Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS).

People were relaxed in the company of staff. Staff were able to demonstrate they knew people well. Staff were attentive to people's needs and treated people with dignity and respect. People who used the service were provided with the opportunity to participate in activities which interested them; these activities were diverse to meet people’s social needs.

The service worked well with other professionals to ensure that people's health needs were met. Where appropriate, support and guidance was sought from health care professionals, including people’s G.Ps and speech and language therapist.

Relatives knew how to raise a concern or make a complaint; any complaints were resolved efficiently and quickly. The manager had a number of ways of gathering views on the service including holding meetings with people, staff and talking with relatives.

The manager and provider carried out a number of quality monitoring audits to ensure the service was running effectively. These included audits on care files, medication management and the environment.

We found that the provider had systems in place to make sure that people were asked for their consent before they received any care. Where people did not have the capacity to make decisions the provider acting in accordance with legal requirements. We saw that further work was being completed to develop this.

We found that people were cared for by staff who were aware of their needs and preferences. We saw that people were happy and relaxed. People were supported to access the community as they wished.

People were supported to maintain a healthy balanced diet. Although food charts were kept and were adequate for people's current needs it was felt that the current format of nutritional charts would not be robust enough, if someone had special nutritional requirements, as amount of food and fluid was not recorded.

The provider demonstrated through various documentation that there was good cooperation with other providers involved in people's care.

The premises were found to be shabby with areas requiring attention and repairs, however there was a scheme of works in place already to address these imminently, and additional issues highlighted during the inspection were added to the works list.

Staffing rotas demonstrated that there was sufficient staffing in place to meet the individual needs and requirements of people using the service.

We found that the provider had systems in place to assess the quality of service provided, such as, spot checks.

SummerLodge is a house with bedrooms set out over three levels, this enables staff to provide accommodation to people according to their level of mobility and independence. We saw that people's bedrooms were personalised and reflected their interests.

Due to the diverse communication needs of people using the service and the off site planned activities we were unable to spend much time in direct conversation with people. However we were able to use observation and documentation to determine on the day of the visit how their needs were being met and whether they were happy living at SummerLodge.

Two of the people we spoke with were happy as they were going out on an activity, they spoke about members of staff in a relaxed manner, asking other staff whether they were also coming on the visit. Some of the people living at SummerLodge where unable to participate in certain activities due to their level of mobility, the manager confirmed that activities were either adapted so that they could take part in some of it, or they went to different activities to suit their needs. For example, one person couldn't walk very far so when staff went out for a walk with that person it was much shorter.