About the service: 3 Ferndale Close is registered to provide accommodation and personal care for up to one younger adult who may have a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder, sensory or mental health needs. At the time of the announced inspection, one person was living at the home.

3 Ferndale House is a residential town house and care is provided across two floors, with communal areas located on each floor.

The care service has been developed in line with the values that underpin Registering the Right Support guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People using the service were treated as an individual, encouraged to lead active lifestyles and were involved within the local and wider community. The values and ethos of the service was to promote and support independence through person centred care.

People’s experience of using this service:

The person enjoyed living at the home and felt well supported by kind, caring and considerate staff. Staff supported the person to be as independent as possible, such as making their own decisions and doing the things they wanted to do.

The person did they things they wanted to do because staff’s approach involved positive risk taking which enabled them to do something, rather than prevent them. This meant the person was enabled to undertake age appropriate activities with any risks identified and managed with their consent and agreement. Social inclusion and independence was a clear focus of the care they provided. The person was involved in activities and personal interests which included a range of individual and social activities.

Staff ‘s focus and attention to detail was evident. Staff knew the person well, what worked well and how to recognise signs of past and current anxieties and how this could affect their mental wellbeing. Staff understood people’s concerns and were quick to offer reassurance and seek support and guidance from other healthcare professionals when needed.

There were enough staff to provide the support and engagement needed. Staffing cover over a 24-hour period meant the person had one to one staff support seven days a week. Planned staff breaks were agreed so staff and the person had their own time to do the things they wanted to do.

Records supported safe care and risk management. However, it was not always clear how risk scores were calculated so the home manager agreed to review them to make sure, risks continued to be managed safely. Care plan records were reviewed, and we recommended the small but more personal information staff knew about the person, should be included to ensure a consistent approach was maintained.

The person’s dietary needs, preferences and nutritional needs were assessed, recorded and followed with the person’s consent.

Medicines were administered safely from trained and competent staff. Regular checks and safe medicines management ensured any errors were kept to a minimum.

Staff had training in relevant subjects and they were clear about their own and other roles and responsibilities, such as safeguarding people from poor practice.

The person continued to have choice and control of their life and staff continually promoted choices that were the least restrictive.

Quality assurance systems were effective and any learning from those audits or when issues arose, resulted in actions. Health and safety, infection control and fire safety checks were regularly completed. During our visit we identified a potential fire risk with a fire door and the registered manager sought immediate action to reduce the risk.

We found the service met the characteristics of a “Good” rating in five areas. For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection: This is the first rating inspection since the provider registered with us on 13 September 2017.

Why we inspected: This was a planned and announced inspection b