This was an announced inspection that took place on 26 October 2016.

The Lawns provides people with personal care in their own homes. At the time of the inspection, 29 people were receiving care.

There was a registered manager at the service. 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 received care and support from staff who were very kind, caring and compassionate. They often went above and beyond what was expected of them to ensure people were happy and contented.

Staff treated people with dignity and respected them as individuals. Staff had built up very good caring relationships with people which both the staff and people valued.

The staff encouraged people’s independence. This had resulted in an improvement in some people’s quality of life.

There were enough staff to meet people’s care needs and people received their medicines when they needed them. The staff knew how to keep people safe and people were involved in making their own decisions about the care they wanted to receive and this was respected.

People’s consent was requested before the staff performed any tasks. Where it was part of their care package, people received support to eat and drink enough to meet their needs. They were supported to maintain their health and advice from specialist healthcare professionals was sought when necessary.

There was an open and transparent culture at the service where people and staff felt listened to. They could raise any concerns they had without hesitation. The staff were happy working at the service and the people were happy with the care and support they received.

There was good leadership at the service which had created a culture of caring and treating people as individuals. The staff understood what was expected of them and they had received enough training and supervision to give them the skills and knowledge to provide people with safe and effective care.

The quality and safety of the service was regularly assessed and monitored to make sure the care and support that people received was of good quality and met their individual requirements.

We spoke with five people who used the service who told us that they were happy with the service that they were provided with and that the support they received met their needs. One person said, “Everything is alright, they (care workers) come quickly if I ring the buzzer." Another person said, “We have got nothing to moan about." Another said, “I could not want better."

People told us that the care workers treated them with respect. One person said, “Oh yes, they (care workers) are very decent." Another person said, “They (care workers) have been so kind to me." Another said, "They (care workers) never make me feel embarrassed."

We looked at the care records of five people who used the service and found that people experienced care, treatment and support that met their needs and protected their rights.

The provider monitored the service to ensure that people were provided with safe care and support. People were asked for their views about the service and their comments were acted on.

We found that the premises were suitable for running a domiciliary care service.

Recruitment checks were made on new care workers to ensure that they were suitable to work with vulnerable people.

We spoke with three people who used the service. They told us that the staff treated them with respect and listened and acted on what they said. One person said, "The staff are very kind."

People told us that they felt that their needs were met and that they were consulted about the care they were provided with. One person said, "I get all the help I need." Another person said, "I am quite happy."

We looked at the care records of four people who used the service which showed that they experienced care, treatment and support that met their needs and protected their rights.

When we visited the Lawns, we spoke to people who live in the flats. One person insisted on talking to us and they provided a full story of what living there was like, praising staff for their caring attitude, respectful and dignified approach, their skills and their commitment to people living on the premises.

All people spoke highly of the standard of care they received. All people we spoke with praised carers and said they were very happy with all staff.

People told us that they felt safe and added that they were not aware of any incidents regarding safety.

People stated that they were happy with the arrangement for administering medication that is generally held in their flats, but that staff administered it to them.

All people commented on how well the place was maintained and how clean it was kept.

Some people spoke in length about the care they received, explained how they call staff, how and what staff helped them with and their comments continually praised staff for “excellent work”.

People were aware of the change of the provider that resulted from the reorganisation of Norfolk County Council and the formation of a new provider, Norse.