This announced inspection took place on 21 and 30 December 2016. Hamilton Court is a supported living service. It provides support for people with learning disabilities and autistic spectrum disorder living in the community. Accommodation is based in a small housing complex owned by South Yorkshire Housing Association. At the time of the inspection 15 people were using the service. Three people lived in single occupancy flats, and there were also three houses which provided accommodation to four people who used the service. The service has one vacancy for a person to be accommodated in a single occupancy flat.

This is the first inspection of the service since its registration with the Commission in December 2015.

The service has recently appointed a manager who has indicated that they will be submitting an application to be the 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.

People we visited told us that the service had really helped them to achieve their independence and confidence. They were complimentary about the staff that supported them. People we spoke with said they would definitely recommend the service to others.

There were enough skilled and experienced staff and there was a programme of training, supervision and appraisal to support staff to meet people’s needs. Procedures in relation to

recruitment and retention of staff were robust and ensured only suitable people were employed in the service.

The acting manager was aware of the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). There were policies and procedures in place and key staff had been trained. This helped to make sure people were safeguarded from excessive or unnecessary restrictions being place on them.

The arrangements for handling medicines were safe and people received their medicines as prescribed. People had access to a good range of health care services and staff actively advocated for people if they felt health care services were not as responsive as they should be.

People were encouraged to make decisions about meals, and were supported to go shopping and be involved in menu planning. We saw people were involved and consulted about all aspects of their care and support, where they were able, including suggestions for activities.

We observed good interactions between staff and people who used the service. People were happy to discuss the day’s events and one person told us about their likes and interests. People told us they were aware of the complaints procedure and said staff would assist them if they needed to use it.

They had systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of the service and to continually review safeguarding concerns, accidents and incidents. Where action plans were in place to make improvements, these were monitored to make sure they were delivered. We saw copies of reports produced by the acting manager and by peers from other services. The reports included any actions required and these were checked each month to determine progress.