The inspection took place on 3 January 2018. The inspection was announced. We gave the service 24 hours notice of the inspection visit because the location provides a domiciliary care service for younger adults who are often out during the day. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

Walsingham Supported Living was last inspected by CQC on 18 and 19 November 2015 and was rated ‘good’ overall and in all areas. At this inspection we found the service remained Good overall and in all areas.

Walsingham Supported Living is a domiciliary care agency. This service provides care and support to 19 people living in ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

The service had a registered manager in post. 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.

We visited three people in their own home and the atmosphere was very homely, warm and welcoming. People who used the service were relaxed in their own home environment and had a good rapport with their support staff.

People were supported to have choice and control over their own lives from being supported by person centred care approaches. Person centred care is when the person is central to their support and their preferences are respected.

People were supported to forward plan and were also supported to achieve personal goals in their lives.

People were always respected by staff and treated with kindness. We saw staff being respectful, considerate and communicating exceptionally well with people who used limited words to communicate.

People’s support plans were in an easy read format and were person centred. They included a ‘one page profile’ that referenced people’s personal histories and described their individual support needs. These were regularly reviewed.

People were supported to play an active role within their local community by making regular use of local resources including the local shops, social clubs and local activities.

Support plans contained person centred risk assessments. These identified risks and described the measures to be taken to ensure people were protected from the risk of harm. This supported people do the things they wanted to live their lives fully. The support plans we viewed showed us that people’s health was monitored and referrals were made to other health support professionals where necessary.

Staff understood safeguarding issues and procedures were in place to minimise the risk of abuse occurring. Where concerns had been raised we saw they had been referred to the relevant safeguarding department for investigation. Robust recruitment processes were in place.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Where people lacked the mental capacity to make decisions about aspects of their care, staff were guided by the principles of the Mental Capacity Act to make decisions in the person’s best interests. For those people that did not always have capacity, mental capacity assessments and best interests decisions had been completed for them. Records of best interests decisions showed involvement from people’s family and staff.

We saw people were encouraged to eat and drink sufficient amounts to meet their needs. The service was truly reflective of what people liked and people were in control of this and chose what they would like to eat.

Medicines were stored, mana

This inspection took place on 18-19 November 2015. The provider was given 48 hours notice of our visit to ensure someone would be available to speak with us and provide the information we needed.

Walsingham Supported Living North East is a supported living service for people with a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder. On the day of our inspection there were 19 people using the service.

The service did not have a registered manager in place. 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. The registered manager had recently left the service and a new locality manager had submitted an application to CQC to be the registered manager.

Walsingham Supported Living North East had not previously been inspected by CQC.

There were sufficient numbers of staff on duty in order to meet the needs of people who used the service. The provider had an effective recruitment and selection procedure in place and carried out relevant checks when they employed staff.

Thorough investigations had been carried out in response to safeguarding incidents or allegations.

People were protected against the risks associated with the unsafe use and management of medicines.

Staff training was up to date and staff received regular supervisions and appraisals, which meant that staff were properly supported to provide care to people who used the service.

People were protected from the risk of poor nutrition.

The homes we visited were clean, spacious and suitable for the people who used the service.

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) provides a legal framework for making particular decisions on behalf of people who may lack the mental capacity to do so for themselves. The Act requires that as far as possible people make their own decisions and are helped to do so when needed. When they lack mental capacity to take particular decisions, any made on their behalf must be in their best interests and as least restrictive as possible.

People can only be deprived of their liberty to receive care and treatment when this is in their best interests and legally authorised under the MCA.

We checked whether the service was working within the principles of the MCA and found that it was.

Care records contained evidence of consent to care and administration of medicines.

People who used the service, and family members, were complimentary about the standard of care at Walsingham Supported Living North East.

Staff treated people with dignity and respect and helped to maintain people’s independence by encouraging them to care for themselves where possible.

We saw there was a full programme of activities in place for people who used the service.

Care records showed that people’s needs were assessed before they started using the service and care plans were written in a person centred way.

The provider had a complaints policy and procedure in place and complaints were fully investigated.

The provider had a robust quality assurance system in place and gathered information about the quality of their service from a variety of sources.

The service had links with the community and other organisations.