This inspection took place on 13 November 2018 and was announced.

Your Life (Welwyn Garden City) provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service.

There were 59 individual apartments within the building (Peel Court). There was an office space and staff provided people with a range of services including personal care, medicines management and cleaning services. At the time of the inspection five people received care and support.

The service did not have the 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.

At our last inspection in May 2016 we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

The provider continued to take appropriate steps to protect people from the risk of abuse or neglect. Staff understood their responsibility to safeguard people and knew the action to take if they were concerned about a person safety. There were sufficient numbers of staff available to meet people’s needs. Recruitment processes were robust and helped to ensure that staff were of suitable character to work with vulnerable people. People’s medicines were administered safely when they needed this support. Staff were aware of infection control measures to help reduce the risk of the spread of infection.

Staff continued to receive the training and supervision necessary to carry out their roles effectively and safely. Staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). People were supported to access healthcare professionals as required.

Staff continued to provide a service that was caring, respectful and promoted people’s privacy and dignity.

The provider had a system in place for responding to people’s concerns and complaints. People were regularly asked for their views about the service they received. The provider had effective systems to monitor and improve the quality of the service provided.

This inspection was carried out on 3 May 2016 and was announced. This was the first inspection since the service registered with the commission on 22 August 2014.

Your Life (WGC) operates an assisted living scheme in a modern and purpose built private development called Peel Court. The property consisted of 59 flats privately owned and occupied by older people who also shared some communal areas and facilities; such as dining rooms, lounges and gardens. There were 11 people who received support with personal care or medicines on the day of our inspection, two of whom were in hospital or respite care.

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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. In this instance the registered manager was also the provider.

People received care that met their needs safely and in accordance with their choices and preferences. Staff knew people well and treated them with dignity. People were independent in relation to eating and drinking. Support was available for health care and appointments if needed.

People who used the service had capacity to make their own decisions and staff asked for consent before supporting them.

Staff received training and supervision to enable them to carry out their roles and there were sufficient numbers of staff to meet people’s needs in a timely fashion. Staff were recruited through a robust process.

People felt safe and staff knew how to help keep people safe. Medicines were managed safely and accidents were reviewed. There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and everyone was complimentary about the registered manager and staff team.