This was a comprehensive inspection, which took place because we carry out comprehensive inspections of services rated Good at least once every two years. This inspection took place on 14 March 2017 and was unannounced. The inspection was carried out by one inspector.
We spoke with two people who used the service. Both people we spoke with required one to one staff support at certain periods of the day because of their complex needs. People's ability to communicate was limited, so we were unable to talk with everyone. One person was able to use sign language with staff support. We observed people, care and support in communal areas throughout our visit and to help us to understand the experiences people had. We used our Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a specific way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.
We spoke with one senior support worker, the deputy manager, the registered manager and the visiting locality manager. We also requested information via email from healthcare professionals involved in the service. These included professionals from the community mental health team, local authority care managers, continuing healthcare professionals, NHS and the GP.
We looked at the provider's records. These included two people's care records, which included care plans, health records, risk assessments and daily care records. We looked at two staff files, a sample of audits, satisfaction surveys, staff rotas, and policies and procedures.
We asked the registered manager to send additional information after the inspection visit, including training records, the annual survey report, activities schedules and some audits. The information we requested was sent to us in a timely manner.