What life is like for people using this service:

• The service met characteristics of Good overall and Requires Improvement for the "well-led" domain.

• The provider and registered manager completed audits and checks but these did not always effectively identify, monitor or analyse quality and safety areas requiring improvement. We have made a recommendation about this.

• The registered manager had attended in-house safeguarding training. However, this was not specific to the local authority's safeguarding policy and procedure; knowledge which is relevant to the registered manager's role. We have made a recommendation about this.

• People using the service, relatives and staff spoke positively of the registered manager’s leadership and felt all concerns were taken seriously and acted upon.

• The service employed and rostered safe levels of staff on duty. The service planned to recruit another team leader and three care workers to further reduce the use of agency staffing and improve continuity of care. We saw this plan was underway.

• The service had safe systems around safeguarding and risk assessment and implemented the least restrictive principle to promote people’s safety and rights.

• People and relatives told us staff were kind and caring. They could express their views about the service and provide feedback.

• Staff received appropriate training and support to enable them to perform their roles effectively. Where there were gaps in training we saw there was a plan to rectify this.

• People's care was personalised to their individual needs. There was sufficient detail in people's care documentation that enabled staff to provide responsive care.

• The service promoted independence and encouraged people to attend and access activities where this was agreed as part of their care and support.

• More information is in the full report.

Rating at last inspection:

The service was registered by CQC with a new provider on 6 June 2018. This was the first inspection visit to the service under the new provider.

About the service:

Creative Support – Slough Services provides personal care in specialist extra care housing to people with a learning disability, people who use mental health services, older people and people living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 39 people using the service at two locations.

Why we inspected:

This inspection was part of our scheduled plan of visiting services to check the safety and quality of care people received.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor the service to ensure that people receive safe, compassionate, high quality care. Further inspections will be planned for future dates.