About the service: Glenlyn provides a supported living service for adults with a learning disability, autistic spectrum disorders and/or mental health problems. Most people who use the service live in a shared house called Glenlyn which is situated in Exminster near Exeter.

People’s experience of using this service:

• People told us they felt safe. A person said, “Yes I do feel safe. I feel very safe.” People were protected against avoidable harm, abuse, neglect and discrimination. The care they received was safe

• People were supported by a stable staff team who had been carefully recruited, trained and supervised. Staff knew people well and understood how to support people to remain safe and well. Staff were positive and enthusiastic about their jobs.

• People were supported by a caring staff team.

• Each person had a support plan in place which they had been involved in developing and consulted about. The plans provided good information about all aspects of people’s health, personal care and social needs and their support network.

• People were consulted and involved in the service. Their views were sought and valued. People felt able to speak out and raise any concerns or complaints, confident these would be addressed satisfactorily.

• The service ran smoothly. People and staff praised the registered manager and provider for the good management of the service. There were systems in place to monitor the service and make improvements where necessary.

Rating at last inspection: The service was previously inspected on 12 October 2016 when it was rated as Good.

Why we inspected: This was a scheduled inspection which was planned according to the previous rating.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the service until we return to visit in line with our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Give a summary of your findings for the service, highlighting what the service does well and drawing attention to areas where improvements could be made. Where a breach of regulation has been identified, summarise, in plain English, how the provider was not meeting the requirements of the law and state 'You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.' Please note that the summary section will be used to populate the CQC website. Providers will be asked to share this section with the people who use their service and the staff that work there.

This comprehensive inspection took place on 12 October and was announced. We gave short notice of our intention to inspect on this day as the service is small and we needed to ensure people and staff would be available to speak with.

Glenlyn is registered to provide care and support without nursing for younger adults with learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder. The service mainly provides care to people living in a supported living house, called Glenlyn. The majority of these people do not require personal care, but do need support with day to day activities. At the time of the inspection, one person was receiving personal care from Glenlyn staff. Glenlyn staff also provide some support to two people living in Exminster; however neither of these people receive personal care.

There was a manager in post who had been registered with the Care Quality Commission since August 2013. 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.

The service was previously inspected in January 2014 and was found compliant in all the regulations inspected.

Responses from people and staff to questionnaires sent by the Care Quality Commission prior to the inspection were very positive. Although we did not formally interview people who were not receiving personal care, we did meet them during the inspection. They all expressed very positive views about the staff and the care they received. Everyone we spoke with said how lovely the staff were and how well supported they felt. This included the person receiving personal care.

The atmosphere at Glenlyn was very positive and friendly with lots of laughter and friendly chat throughout the inspection. Staff were very caring and showed genuine compassion for people. For example, one member of staff had worked in their own time to find long-lost relatives in another country for a person. This had been really welcomed by the person, who was now in email contact with their family.

Risk assessments and care plans had been written which described the individual needs, risks and personal preferences of the person. These were kept up to date taking into account changes in the person’s needs or wants. People had been involved in developing their care plans and had signed to say they agreed with them. Staff were able to describe the information contained in the care plans and how they had delivered that care.

Staff were recruited safely, with checks carried out to ensure they were suitable before they started working at Glenlyn. Staff were provided an induction which included a range of training courses. These courses not only covered essential training, but also covered more specialist knowledge such as epilepsy awareness. Staff were knowledgeable about people and worked together to provide the person the support they needed and wanted.

There were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs, both in terms of receiving personal care and to support their social needs. Staff worked flexibly as a team to ensure that people were able to do the activities they wanted or needed to do.

Staff encouraged people to maintain their independence by helping them to do activities by themselves. Staff showed respect to people and ensured their dignity was maintained and they were given privacy, for example when showering. People were supported to eat healthily and have sufficient drinks throughout the day for the health and well-being. People were also supported to manage their health needs by accessing health professionals including their GP, dentist and chiropodist.

People chose what activities they wanted to do, for example visiting local towns, going out for a game of pool as well as doing their

Glenlyn was a small personal care service, with less than five service users. We therefore gave a day’s notice of our visit, in line with our current policy, partly to ensure a staff member would be present.

The registered service's office was on the same site as supported living accommodation. Not everyone living there received a personal care service but they were supported by the staff who provided the registered service. People using the service had communication needs such that we could not get their views in detail. We thus met them but also observed some of the support they and others received from staff. We spoke with a service user's relative and three staff to get other views and information about the service.

We found that care was planned and delivered in ways intended to ensure people's safety and welfare, with the staff supported to deliver care safely and to an appropriate standard. Individuals were protected from the risk of abuse, because the provider had taken steps to identify the possibility of abuse and to prevent abuse from happening.

People's privacy, dignity and independence were respected and promoted. Their views and experiences were taken into account in the way the service was provided in relation to their care.

There were systems to monitor the quality of the service people received. There were also systems to identify and manage risks to the health, safety and welfare of those who used the service and others, such as the staff.