Wisteria House provides a residential care service for seven people living with a learning disability or mild mental health issues. At the time of this announced inspection of 30 June 2017 there were seven people who used the service. The provider was given short notice of the inspection because we needed to know that people would be at home.

At the last inspection of 31 March 2015 the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

There was 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.

The service continued to provide a safe service to people. This included systems in place intended to minimise the risks to people, including from abuse and with their medicines. Staff were available when people needed assistance and the recruitment of staff continued to be safe.

People were supported by staff who were trained and supported to meet their needs. 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. Systems were in place to assess and meet people’s dietary and health needs.

Staff had good relationships with people who used the service. People were involved in making decisions about their care and support. People received care and support which was planned and delivered to meet their specific needs. People were supported to participate in meaningful activities.

The service had a quality assurance system and shortfalls were identified and addressed. As a result the quality of the service continued to improve. A complaints procedure was in place.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

We inspected this service on 31 March and 10 April 2015 and the inspection was unannounced. Wisteria House is a residential service for seven people living with a learning disability or mild mental health issues.

There was 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.

There were enough staff to support people safely and staff knew what to do if they suspected someone may be being abused or harmed. Recruitment practices were robust and contributed to protecting people from staff who were unsuitable to work in care. Medicines were managed and stored properly and safely so that people received them as the prescriber intended.

Staff had received the training they needed to understand how to meet people’s needs. They understood the importance of gaining consent from people before delivering their care or treatment. Staff were clear about their roles. Where people were not able to give informed consent staff and the manager ensured their rights were protected.

People have enough to eat and drink to meet their needs and staff supported them to make their own choices about what to have on the menu, what they needed to shop for and cooking the meal.

Staff treated people with warmth and compassion. They were respectful of people’s privacy and dignity and offered comfort and reassurance when people were distressed or unsettled. Staff also made sure that people who were becoming unwell were referred promptly to healthcare professionals for treatment and advice about their health and welfare.

Staff showed commitment to understanding and responding to each person’s needs and preferences so that they could engage meaningfully with people. Outings and outside entertainment was offered to people and staff supported people in their choice of activities on a daily basis.

Staff understood the importance of responding to and resolving concerns quickly if they were able to do so. Staff also ensured that more serious complaints were passed on to the management team for investigation. People told us that any complaints they made would be addressed by the manager.

The service had consistent leadership. The staff told us that the manager was supportive and easy to talk to and in the manager’s absence during a period of extended leave, the providers had taken action to ensure that the people who use the service and the staff were properly supported. During this inspection the acting manager was responsible for monitoring the quality and safety of the service and asked people for their views so that improvements identified were made where possible. The organisation also carried out quality assurance visits, set action plans and checked the actions had been undertaken.

We talked with two of the people who used the service. They told us that they liked living in the service. People also told us that they got on well with the staff that supported them to go out to do their personal shopping, to follow their favourite activities, to be part of the local community and to go on holiday. This was substantiated by the records we looked at. People also told us that their rooms were comfortable and that they had their own belongings around them. One person told us, “Staff are good, very friendly, you need friendly people around you.”

We observed that the staff were attentive to people’s needs. Staff interacted with people in a friendly, respectful and professional manner. We saw that staff sought people’s agreement before providing any support or assistance.

People’s nutritional needs were met and people told us that they enjoyed their food and that they helped with the shopping and the cooking. One person said, “I help choose dinner and help to cook it sometimes.”

We spoke with three staff members, they told us they were supported through supervision and that they believed they were trained sufficiently to support people with learning disabilities in all aspects of their lives.

We saw that the provider had an effective system to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people received.

We spoke with two people who used the service and they told us that they were treated with respect and the staff looked after them very well. One person told us" I enjoy living here."

People told us that they liked living at Wisteria House. Staff helped them do things they wanted to do. They liked going out on their own and on outings.