We inspected the service on 5 June 2018. We contacted the provider 24 hours prior to our inspection to ensure someone would be at the service when we visited. Hunters Lodge is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or 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. Hunters Lodge accommodates up to 17 people and is designed to meet the needs of people with a learning disability. On the day of our inspection 12 people were using the service.

The care service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. The aim is that people with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

The service had a registered manager in place at the time of our inspection. 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. At the time of our inspection the registered manager was on leave.

This was the first inspection of this service under its current registration.

At this inspection we found that the behaviours of one person using the service, which posed a risk to staff and other people using the service, had not been safely managed by the provider. This was having a significant impact on every aspect of the service and this is reflected in this report. Incidents had not been notified as required by law and as a result CQC had not been made aware of the level of risk at the service at the time of our inspection.

People were not always able to spend their time in ways they would have chosen to due to the risk posed by one person who used the service. These behaviours, which staff struggled to manage, were impacting on people being enabled to remain as independent as possible and, at times, people using the service did not feel safe.

Staff had not been adequately trained in providing safe support for people and staff felt they had not always been adequately supported in their roles.

There were enough staff at the service to safely meet people's needs although staff's time was often taking up managing one person's behaviours and this restricted the amount of time they were able to spend with other people.

Care and support plans contained relevant and up-to-date information on risks associated with the delivery of people's support and were written to reflect people's personal needs and preferences.

People were protected against the risk of infection as we found the service to be clean and hygienic. People received their medicines safely and there were plans in place for any potential emergency situations.

People's consent was sought by the service and the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 had been followed.

People's nutritional risks were assessed and planned for and people had a choice in what they had to eat and drink. People had access to various healthcare professionals to maintain their health and well-being.

There was a management structure within the service and people and their relatives felt they could approach the management of the service should they need to raise any issues. However, there had been a lack of action in relation to concerns raised by staff, people and their relatives in relation to risk associated with one person's behaviours at the service. These were beginning to be addressed following our inspection as we raised a safeguarding concern about this.

You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of this report.