The Paddocks can provide accommodation and personal care for up to seven people who live with learning disabilities and varying degrees of autism. At the time of our inspection there were seven people living in the home.

At the last inspection the service was rated ‘Good’.

We carried out this unannounced inspection at the service on 1 February 2017. At this inspection we found that the service had maintained its ‘Good’ rating.

People were supported to have as much choice and control over their lives as they were able to. They were supported in the least restrictive way possible. The systems and policies in the service supported this practice.

Steps had been taken to reduce the risk of people having accidents and staff knew how to keep people safe from the risk of abuse. There were enough safely recruited staff on duty to meet people’s needs. Medicines were safely managed.

People received their care from staff who were trained and supported to do so in the right way. They received the support they needed to access appropriate healthcare services and to eat and drink enough to stay well.

People were treated with care and kindness. Their privacy was maintained and their dignity promoted by staff who understood the importance of this. Confidentiality of personal information was maintained.

People reliably received the individualised support they wanted and needed. This included support to maintain and develop their social interests and hobbies. There was a system in place to respond to and resolve complaints.

People had benefited from staff acting upon good practice guidance. Quality checks had been completed to ensure people received safe and reliable support.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

We inspected The Paddocks on 15 October 2014. The inspection was unannounced. The last inspection took place on 17 February 2014 during which we found there were no breaches in the regulations.

The Paddocks provides care and support for up to seven people who experience learning disabilities and needs within the autistic spectrum. It forms part of a larger complex of homes provided by Autism Care (UK) Limited, in the Scopwick area of Lincolnshire. Seven people lived at the home; six of whom were at home during the inspection.

There was a registered manager in post at the time of the inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (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.

CQC is required by law to monitor the operation of the Mental Capacity Act, 2005 Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and to report on what we find. DoLS are in place to protect people where they do not have capacity to make decisions and where it is considered necessary to restrict their freedom in some way, usually to protect themselves or others. At the time of the inspection five people who used the service had their freedom restricted and the provider had acted in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act, 2005 DoLS.

People told us or indicated through sign language that they felt safe living at the home and they liked living there. There were systems and arrangements in place to make sure people were kept safe and had their rights protected.

There was an open and inclusive culture within the home which enabled people to be a part of decision making processes, develop as individuals and lead a life that was meaningful to them. We saw examples of people being supported with kindness, respect and dignity throughout the inspection.

Although some people had different ways of communicating the provider, manager and staff had put systems in place to ensure that everyone was able to contribute to their care and support in any way they could. People benefitted from access to appropriate healthcare services and good nutritional arrangements.

The provider and manager ensured that everyone who was important in people’s lives were involved in their care and support and able to contribute to the development of the services they provided.

People were supported by staff who knew and respected them as individuals and were trained to use support methods that were nationally recognised as good practice. Staff were encouraged to express their views and opinions and supported to continually develop their skills in line with national guidance about good practice.

There were arrangements in place to continually assess and monitor the quality and effectiveness of the services provided for people. The arrangements enabled the provider and manager to take appropriate actions to develop the services and learn lessons from events that took place in the home.

We used a number of different ways to help us understand the experiences of people. This was because people had complex needs which meant they were not able to tell us directly about their experiences of care and support.

Before we undertook our visit we reviewed all of the information we had about the service. During our visit we spoke with staff about the work they did and listened to people when they talked about what they liked to do.

Staff were responsive and supported people in a respectful and dignified way. Staff showed us they understood each person's way of communicating their needs, wishes and choices.

We found people were provided with the choice of a variety of food and drink that met their individual needs. One person commented that they looked forward to their lunch saying, “I am having egg and tomato and that’s my choice.”

Staff had been given the right amount of training and support which helped them understand peoples' complex needs. Staff told us this enabled them to feel confident in carrying out their roles.

We looked at the statement of purpose and found this reflected the current service provision. Overall we found the service was well led and the home owner and manager had a system in place to respond to any concerns or complaints they received.

We used a number of different ways to help us understand the experiences of people who used the service. This was because they had complex needs which meant some people were not able to tell us about their experiences. We looked at records, including personal care plans. We spoke to the manager and staff who were supporting people, and we observed how they provided that support.

Where they were able to people told us things like “I choose what I want to do”, “Like living here” and “Good staff, I like them.”

We saw that people were supported in a way that closely followed their care plans.

People were given support to make choices and decisions for themselves wherever they could do so, and staff clearly understood each person’s way of communicating their needs, wishes and choices. We saw that people had a good rapport with staff and appeared to be comfortable and confident when interacting with them.

We were unable to gain people’s views about the services they received, so we used other methods such as observing how they were supported, we looked at their care records, and we spoke to staff.

Two people were able to indicate to us by using sign language that they liked living in the home, and they liked the staff that supported them.

We saw that staff supported them in a respectful and dignified way, and that they followed the care that was set out in people’s plans.

We saw that people were given support to make choices and decisions for themselves wherever they could do so.