The White House Care Home supports up to nine adults with learning disabilities and/or mental health needs. At the time of our inspection the home was full with nine adults using the service.

At our last inspection on 24 July 2015 the service was rated good overall and for each of the five key questions. At this inspection we found the service remained good.

People felt safe at the service. There were sufficient staff on duty to support people during the day and at night. The provider continued to adhere to safe recruitment practices. Risks to people’s safety were identified and mitigated. Staff adhered to their responsibility to safeguard people from harm and had regular discussions with the provider about safeguarding procedures. People received their medicines as prescribed.

Staff were supported and encouraged to improve their knowledge and skills through regular training and supervision sessions. Staff adhered to the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The provider participated in local initiatives to further support people with their health needs and accessing healthcare services in a timely manner. People were supported with any nutritional needs and were encouraged to maintain a healthy balanced diet.

Staff built caring trusting relationships with people. They continued to support people to make day to day decisions and respected people’s choices. Staff maintained people’s privacy and dignity. The provider had engaged in a project with a local hospice to improve end of life care for people with long term conditions.

People continued to receive personalised care. Care plans provided detailed information about people’s needs and how they preferred to be cared for. People were encouraged to participate in local groups and undertake activities at the service and in the community. There continued to be a complaints process in place to ensure any complaints made were appropriately investigated.

There was clear management and leadership of the service. Staff felt well supported by the providers and said that they were accessible if they required additional support. There continued to be systems in place to review the quality of the service. The providers responded promptly to address the minor areas requiring improvement identified at the time of the inspection. There were processes in place to obtain feedback from people and relatives about the service. The providers continued to adhere to their CQC registration requirements, submitting notifications as and when required about key events that occurred at the service.

We visited the White House Care Home on 24 July 2015.

The inspection was unannounced. The last inspection took place on 9 January 2014 when it was found the service was meeting the regulations we inspected. 

The service provides residential care and support for up to nine adults with learning disabilities.

The service had a registered manager. 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 at the service felt safe. Staff had completed safeguarding of vulnerable adults training and knew how to recognise and report any indicators of abuse. They knew how to escalate concerns. People’s needs were assessed and appropriate risk assessments developed. There were sufficient numbers of staff to meet people’s needs and safe recruitment procedures were followed. People received their medicines safely and as prescribed.

Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver safe and effective care and support. Mental capacity assessments were completed to establish each person’s capacity to make decisions. Where it was necessary to deprive people of their liberty to deliver care and support the service had applied for authorisations under the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. Staff had completed mental capacity training. People were supported to have a healthy diet and to maintain good health.

People and visitors commented positively about relationships with staff. People and their representatives were supported to express their views and were involved in making decisions about their care and treatment. Staff respected people’s privacy and dignity.

People received personalised care. Care plans were person centred and addressed a wide range of social and healthcare needs. Care plans and associated risk assessments reflected people’s needs, goals and preferences. People were encouraged to take part in activities that reduced the risks of social isolation.

Staff spoke positively about the management team who had an open door policy if people, visitors of staff wanted to speak with them. The service had formal and informal systems of audits to monitor and assess the quality of service they provided.

At our previous inspection of The White House we identified that action needed to be taken by the service provider to improve care planning and support provided to people who used the service. We also found that improvements were required to do with the training, support and development of it's staff. During our follow up visit we found that appropriate action had been taken by the provider to address the concerns that we identified at the previous inspection.

The manager told us that home’s policy to do with staff training and staff supervision has been revised since the last inspection. We were told that staff now receive individual supervision monthly and have attended appropriate training that now meets the necessary requirements. Staff told us that they now received improved supervision and access to training. We saw evidence that demonstrated that staff had been on appropriate and relevant training since the last inspection.

The people who used this service told us that they liked to be called residents. They said that they enjoyed living in the home as it was “just like being in a large family, where everyone gets taken care of”. They told us they felt safe and that they enjoyed the food and the outings and activities that they did. They said that they kept in touch with their relatives and that they knew how to complain if they needed to do so.

The people who used this service told us that they liked to be called residents. They said that they enjoyed living in the home as it was “just like being in a large family, where everyone gets taken care of”. They told us they felt safe and that they enjoyed the food and the outings and activities that they did. They said that they kept in touch with their relatives and that they knew how to complain if they needed to do so.

The people who use this service told us that they like to be called residents. Overall, we have found that The White House meets the essential standards but to maintain this we have suggested that some improvements are made. Please see main report for this information.