We carried out this unannounced inspection on 29 November 2018. The service was previously inspected in April 2016 when it was rated as good in all areas. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of Good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing 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.

Hapstead Village consists of care home made up of six separate houses and is registered to support up to 48 people with learning disabilities. People in care homes receive accommodation and personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

This service provides care and support to people living in two 'supported living' settings, so that they can live in their own home as independently as possible. In supported living settings people's care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at the quality of personal care provided in the supported living settings.

At the time of our inspection 36 people were living in the care home and 10 people were receiving supported living care. One of the six houses had been recently extended to enable the service to meet the needs of people as they aged.

The service is based on a campus style mode and had been set up over 30 years previously to provide a home for life for people with learning disabilities. The care service was established before the introduction of Registering the Right Support which is current best practice guidance on how services for people with learning disabilities should been designed. One of the key principles of this guidance is that people with learning disabilities should be supported to live as ordinary a life as any citizen. In Hapstead Village we found that people received personalised care, were supported to be as independent as possible and lived varied and interesting lives.

The service was within one hundred acres of land, including a farm and people were supported to participate in a wide variety of activities both within the service and in the local community. The registered manager told us the service operated, “a college style timetable of activities” and people had the choice of which activities they engaged with (if any). On the day of our inspection people engaged with rural tasks and various craft activities including, metal work, jewellery making, woodwork, pottery and weaving. People took pride in their creations which were exhibited at local craft fairs. People told us they enjoyed the variety of activities available within the service and commented, “I go out at about 8.30 in the morning, collect eggs, and check the hens are alright, “[I am] very happy indeed with my workshops, metal working in morning, and pottery in afternoon” and “I was doing the [donkeys] this morning.”

In addition, each of the six houses had it’s own dedicated transport and people were able to go out in the evening and participate in events within the wider community when they wished. People told us, “I get out a lot, staff can drive. Last week I went to Cornwall” and “I’m Going to [Plymouth] Argyle [football match] at the weekend.” While relative said, “They involve [my relative] in a variety of activities” and “[My relative] is really busy, Workshops during the day and going bowling and to the theatre. They took her on holiday to Majorca last year.”

People told us they felt safe and well cared for. Their comments included, “I feel safe, I am happy living here” and “We all feel safe here.” Staff had received safeguarding training and were confident any safety concern they reported to managers would be addressed. People’s relatives were complimentar

Hapstead Village is a large service which provides accommodation and personal care for up to 48 people who have a learning disability, autism and other physical health needs. People who live at the service live in one of six houses located in a rural setting. These six houses accommodate between four and eight people each and are all located within walking distance of each other. Hapstead Village also provides personal care to people who live in supported living accommodation located a short distance away.

The home had 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 a legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

This inspection took place on 19, 25 and 26 April 2016 and the first day of inspection was unannounced. At the time of our inspection there were 36 people living in Hapstead Village and 10 people, who lived in supported living, receiving personal care from the service. People had a range of needs with some people being more independent and others requiring more support with their care needs.

People, staff and healthcare professionals expressed confidence in the care provided at the service and with the service’s management. People told us they were happy with the support they received and felt they could live their lives the way they wanted. People were encouraged to have as much freedom as they wanted. Risks to people were identified and plans were put in place to manage these risks without restricting people’s freedoms and rights to take risks.

Staff had received training in safeguarding people and knew how to raise concerns if they were worried about anybody being harmed or neglected. The service had a very open culture which encouraged people and staff to raise any concerns they had. People and staff told us they felt very comfortable raising concerns and felt confident these would be acted on. Staff had received information about whistleblowing and felt confident about doing this if they needed to. There was information available in a way people understood relating to safeguarding and how people could keep safe. This information was easily available to all people who received support, either on the site or in their own homes, and contained contact details for external bodies.

People’s medicines were managed safely and where people wanted to, they were encouraged and supported to manage their own medicines independently. People were also encouraged and supported to manage their monies safely.

People and healthcare professionals spoke highly of the staff and the care and support people received. People’s care was person centred and focused on their health needs, their social needs and their wellbeing. People were fully involved in every aspect of their care and support. Staff used a number of different methods to communicate with people in order to ensure they fully understood their options and their choices. The support staff provided to people reflected people’s wishes and their preferences. Staff told us they had enough time to meet people’s needs and throughout our inspection we saw staff supporting people in personalised ways and being flexible to people’s wishes. Staff had time to take people to activities, involve people in activities and spend one on one time with people.

A large variety of activities were organised and provided to people. Hapstead Village organised their own activities on the site which included a number of workshops such as pottery, working on the farm, woodwork, art and weaving. People could choose to take part in these organised activities or could choose to attend a number of other activities in the wider community, such as swimming, dance classes, rock climbing and attending sporting events. People were encourag

There were 34 people who use the service on the day of our visit. We spoke with four people and saw five support plans. We also spoke with four members of staff. People we spoke with said “I’m very happy”, “I love it here” and “we’re very well cared for”. Staff we spoke with said “there’s something here for everyone”.

We saw evidence that arrangements were in place to obtain consent of people who use the service. People we spoke with said “staff ask ‘would you like me to do something for you’” and “staff give information and we decide”. Staff explained that they “give people a few choices” to enable them to choose their preferred option.

We saw that a variety of meaningful activities were available including weavery, pottery, woodwork, metalwork and others. People we spoke with told us that they could “choose for myself what I do” including taking part in individual activities such as playing the piano. People were able to engage in community activities such as going to college and taking part in voluntary work.

People we spoke with said that staff were “absolutely brilliant”, that they were “very well cared for” and that they “felt very safe living here”. Other comments included “they try to encourage me”, “they keep me safe” and “staff help me manage and look after my money”. Everyone we spoke with said that they were treated with dignity and respect and that they felt safe at Hapstead Village.

We spoke with six people privately and to some small groups of people in communal areas. They told us that support workers were kind to them. One person told us, "they all help me." another said, "I like X" (their support worker). We asked people how staff helped them. Comments included, "they help me get shopping", "X helps me look after me."

We found that people's privacy was protected and staff spoke to people respectfully. Information was provided to people in suitable formats. Records showed that people had regular opportunities to be involved in and discuss their care.

People made choices about everyday living, such as their preferred layout of things in their room. Where people did not have the capacity to make significant decisions their rights were protected.

People's needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered in line with their individual care plan. People had access to community and specialist health services.

Records showed and people told us that they had made progress at Hapstead Village, such as learning new skills. Some people had recently moved into supported living units. People took part in activities in the community.

There were effective recruitment procedures and sufficient trained staff were employed. Effective systems were in place to protect people from the risk of abuse.

The provider had an effective quality assurance system in place, which took account of people's views.