We carried out an announced inspection on 22 September 2016 and made telephone calls to people who used the service and staff on 4 October 2016.

Acorn House is a community based service providing care and support to people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection, there were approximately 89 people being supported by the service.

The service has a registered Manager in place. 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 risk assessments in place that gave guidance to staff on how risks to people could be minimised and how to safeguard people from the risk of possible harm.

The provider had effective recruitment processes in place and there were sufficient staff to support people safely. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities and would seek people’s consent before they provided any care or support. Staff received supervision and support, and had been trained to meet people’s individual needs.

People were supported by caring and respectful staff who they felt knew them well. Staff also felt that they were given the opportunity to get to know the people they supported. Relatives we spoke with described the staff as very good and caring.

People’s needs had been assessed and care plans took account of their individual preferences and choices. Staff supported people when required to attend health care appointments with their GPs or hospital visits.

The provider had a formal process for handling complaints and concerns. They encouraged feedback from people and acted on the comments received to continually improve the quality of the service. The provider also had effective quality monitoring processes in place to ensure that they were meeting the required standards of care.