We inspected Westborough Road on the 2 February 2016.

The service provides accommodation and support for up to seven people with learning disabilities. There were four people living at the service at the time of our inspection. Due to their complex needs some people found it difficult to communicate with us verbally. 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.

Records were regularly updated and staff were provided with the information they needed to meet people’s needs. People's care and treatment was planned and delivered in a way that was intended to ensure people's safety and welfare.

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 other health professionals.

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 medication management and the environment.

We gathered evidence to help us answer our five questions; Is the service safe? Is the service effective? Is the service caring? Is the service responsive? Is the service well led?

This is a summary of what we found. The summary is based on our observations during the inspection, speaking with one person using the service, two staff supporting them and from looking at care records, training records, supervision records and quality monitoring processes.

The detailed evidence supporting our summary can be read in our full report.

Is the service safe?

We saw that people were safe and were consenting to their treatment. The service had policies and procedures in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards although there were no current applications needed to be submitted. The appropriate staff had been trained in these subjects and knew when to submit an application to ensure that people were not unlawfully deprived of their liberty. This meant that people were safeguarded as required.

Staff were trained and supported with the correct skills to provide care to people. Staff had a good understanding of safeguarding and how to protect vulnerable people.

Is the service effective?

People or where appropriate their relatives were involved in planning their care needs and this enabled them to maintain their optimal independence.

Is the service caring?

We saw that people were relaxed in the company of each other and staff. We saw that staff were attentive to people's needs. Staff we spoke with were able to demonstrate they knew people well. We saw staff treating people with dignity and respect.

Is the service responsive?

People completed a range of activities in and outside the service regularly. The service had its own adapted minibus, which helped to keep people involved with their local community.

Is the service well-led?

We saw quality monitoring processes were in place, to monitor and improve the service. We saw staff had regular meetings and supervision with management to discuss the running of the service. Staff told us they felt supported and had received adequate training.

We used a number of different methods to help us understand the experiences of people using the service, because the people using the service had complex needs which meant they were not always able to tell us their experiences. At the time of our visit four people were using the service. We talked with one person who spoke positively about the care they received from staff and the opportunities for activities. We spoke to two relatives of people, using the service, who also gave positive feedback. Their comments included, “We are always welcome.” “If I ever have any questions they [staff] answer them right away.”

We spoke with four staff. We reviewed three people's care planning files and three staff personnel files.

The provider had employed a manager to ensure that Westborough Road was well led. We saw that there were a number of effective systems in place to ensure people gained the care they needed and to keep them safe. We found that some systems for ensuring people received adequate nutrition and hydration needed improvement.

We observed positive, caring interactions from staff during our visit and saw that staff were responsive to people’s needs.

People living in Westborough Road were able to talk to us to a degree, but not always able to fully express their views about their care or experiences of living in Westborough Road. We therefore used a number of different methods to help us understand the experiences of people using the service. We observed how people interacted with staff and management and spent time with people using the service. We found that peoples' care was well planned and took their needs and views into account.

Everyone living in Westborough Road had lived there for a number of years and clearly regarded it as their home where they felt relaxed and able to follow their own routines. People enjoyed telling us about the different activities they undertook and the places that they went. People said that they felt safe and secure living in Westborough Road. We found that staff had been trained in safeguarding vulnerable adults and worked in ways that kept people safe.

People using the service had a good rapport with staff. Most of the staff had worked at the service for a number of years to provide people with consistency and familiarity. People indicated through their comments and actions that they liked all the staff and go on well with them. We found that staff accessed good levels of training and felt supported in their role.