Castle Supported Living is registered to provide personal care to people living in their own home. The service specialised in providing flexible support to people with learning disabilities living in the Ribble Valley. At the time of the inspection 29 people were using the service. People had varying levels of need and support.

The care service continued to develop in line with good practice guidelines. The management and staff had redefined the values that underpin the service and everyone promoted the values. These values included choices, action, support, teamwork, local and everyone. The values enabled people with learning disabilities and autism using the service to live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

The types of services offered from this location include supporting people living in their own homes in single occupancy or shared housing. People's care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people's personal care and support.

The inspection visit took place on 10 December and 17 December 2018 and was announced. The registered manager was given 48 hours' notice of the inspection, to ensure that she or other responsible people would be available to assist with the inspection visit.

At our last inspection, we rated the service Outstanding. On this inspection, we found the service had remained Outstanding. We found the evidence continued to support the rating of Outstanding and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and on-going 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.

There was a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the 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. Castle Supported Living is a registered charity and the registered manager whilst responsible for the day to day running of the service is accountable to a board of directors.

Staff demonstrated a genuine person centred culture. The registered manager had a robust and values based recruitment process in place. This helped to ensure that all staff recruited truly believed that people who have a learning disability should have the same opportunities and access to community resources as other citizens.

People who use the service were involved in the recruitment process either informally or being on the interview panel. All applicants are shown an video which has been made by people using the service. This provides an insight into what the service provides and helps to assess the prospective employees values.

A thorough and person-centred assessment process was in place resulting in detailed support plans. Everyone said their care needs were met and the service was very responsive. We saw very positive outcomes had been experienced by people.

Staff were carefully matched to people who use the service to ensure compatibility. Time and effort had been invested into matching the support worker with the person using the service. Staff displayed empathy and worked with people and their family members to understand how best to support them. People were put at the centre of everything the service provided. This helped ensure people’s needs, wishes and hopes were understood and supported people to live fulfilled lives. The attitude and knowledge of staff and management clearly had a positive impact on people and their families. We saw evidence of good relationships that had developed between people using the service and staff members.

There was a strong commitment to continuous learning. A 12 month training plan was in place and

We carried out an inspection of Castle Supported Living on 18 and 19 February 2016. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of our intention to carry out the inspection. This was because the location is a community based service and we needed to be sure that someone would be present in the office.

Castle Supported Living is registered to provide personal care to people living in their own home. The service specialised in providing flexible support to people with learning disabilities living in the Ribble Valley. At the time of the inspection 29 people were using the service. People had varying levels of need and support.

The service was managed by a registered manager. 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.

We last inspected the service on 8 January 2014 and found it was meeting all legal requirements.

During this inspection, we found the service provided outstanding care and support to people and was very responsive to their needs, wishes and preferences. All people, relatives and staff spoken with were extremely positive about Castle Supported Living. Everyone had contributed to and was fully committed to the values of the service. The overarching value was “People are at the centre of everything we do.” Throughout the inspection, we saw numerous ways of how this value was implemented and embedded into the ethos of the service.

Staff were very positive about working for Castle Supported Living and understood and practised its values. One of the strongest values was how people drove all aspects of care and had ownership for the direction of the service. All people, their relatives, staff and the directors were members of the quality group which met four times a year at an external venue. This enabled people to forward their ideas for improvement. People had painted an ideas tree on the wall in the office so they could see how their ideas were progressing and what action was being taken. People were involved in projects which were represented by the branches. One such project was the making of a video so people could explain to potential new staff and people considering the using the service what was good about Castle Supported Living and what was important to them.

All people felt very safe using the service. We saw they were actively encouraged and supported to remain as independent as possible. Detailed and thorough risk assessments had been carried out with people to ensure their safety, whilst enabling them to maintain their independence and lead an interesting and fulfilled life. The assessments included photographs of actual equipment to help people and staff understand the risks involved in specific activities. Staff were creative in the way they communicated with people and had an thorough understanding of how to respect people’s privacy and dignity.

Staff knew about safeguarding procedures and we saw concerns had been reported promptly and appropriately to the local authority. The recruitment process was robust and people were given the opportunity to actively choose their own staff through the use of a comprehensive matching process. The registered manager ensured there were sufficient numbers of staff to ensure people’s individual needs and wishes were fully met. Staffing arrangements were flexible and people could accrue staff time to enable a member of staff to accompany them on specific events. For instance one person was due to attend a conference and slight adjustments had been made in order to build up staffing hours. This meant the person could be fully supported throughout the event.

There were safe arrangements in place to support people with their medication.

The registered manager

People were satisfied with the service provided, one person told us, “It’s very good, the staff are always helpful and have time to talk”. People told us the staff were respectful of their rights to privacy and dignity and they were supported to maintain and build their independence skills.

People’s care and support was planned and delivered in accordance with their needs. People had detailed individual support plans which were underpinned by a series of risk assessments. People told us they discussed their needs with staff and had been fully involved in the development and review of their plans.

New staff were thoroughly checked before they started working for the service. This meant the provider ensured staff were suitable to work with people using the service.

Staff were provided with appropriate training opportunities and received regular supervision. This meant staff had the right skills and knowledge to carry out their role effectively.

We found there were systems in place to monitor the quality and operation of the service. We saw evidence to demonstrate that people were consulted about their opinion of the service and their comments were used to shape future developments.

People using the service told us they were satisfied with the way the agency delivered their care and support. One person told us, “They are all very nice and they always make sure I’m OK”. People said they shared a good relationship with the staff who they described as “friendly” and “good”. People told us their rights to privacy and independence were upheld and respected.

People’s care and support was planned and delivered in accordance with their needs. People had detailed individual support plans which were underpinned by a series of risk assessments. People told us they discussed their needs with staff and had been fully involved in the review of their plans.

Staff confirmed they had received training on safeguarding vulnerable adults and had access to appropriate policies and procedures.

Staff were provided with appropriate training opportunities and received regular supervision.

We found there were limited systems in place to monitor the quality of the service. People had not been given the opportunity to complete a satisfaction questionnaire and a written report had not been produced, to set out the outcomes of the quality monitoring systems and the agency’s plans for the forthcoming year.

People using the service told us they were satisfied with the support they received from Castle Supported Living, that they were being involved in planning their support and were enabled to make choices and decisions about matters which affected them. “They always ask us what we want to do“, said one person.

They said staff treated them well, that were enabled to develop independence skills and were being supported to try new experiences.

People said they were getting support with healthcare needs, with regular check ups being arranged. They all had written person centred plans which explained their needs and how their support should be provided. One person explained, “Its all written down so everyone knows, then we have a review and we decide who is invited”

Everyone spoken with was okay with how they were supported with food choices, preparation and cooking.

People said they would speak up if they were not happy with things, “I would tell one of the staff, I know them all well enough”, said one person, “I would see the manager to discuss any problems, but I have never needed to make a complaint”, said another.

We were told by people using the service how they were involved in different ways, in choosing the staff that support them.