About the service:

• Lakeside House Residential Care Home is a care home providing personal care and support for people with learning disabilities. The home is registered for eight people.

• At the time of the inspection it was providing a service to seven people.

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

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

People’s experience of using this service:

• People felt safe and were happy living at Lakeside Residential Care Home. They told us staff were kind, caring and treated them with respect. People told us staff responded promptly if they needed support. People's health care needs were well managed. Medicines were managed safely.

• People's risks were assessed and strategies put in place to reduce the risks.

• People's likes, preferences and dislikes were assessed and care provided met people's desired expectations.

• People's care was person-centred. The care was designed to ensure people's independence was encouraged and maintained.

• People’s cultural and religious needs were respected when planning and delivering care. Discussions with staff members showed that they respected people’s sexual orientation so that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people could feel accepted and welcomed in the service.

• People and their relatives were involved in the care planning process and review of their care.

• The service had a stable management structure. The provider had implemented systems to ensure they continuously measured the safety of people's care and quality of the service.

• The home was clean and well maintained.

• Recruitment processes ensured staff were suitable to work in the care service. Staff were well trained and supported by a registered manager who worked alongside them on a daily basis providing direction and guidance.

• People enjoyed activities that were offered.

•The service submitted relevant statutory notifications promptly.

• People, relatives and staff spoke highly of the registered manager who they said was approachable and always available. Audits and checks were carried out and used to drive continuous improvements to the service people received.

Rating at last inspection:

• Requires Improvement (report published on 30 November 2017)

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 intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.

We inspected Lakeside House Residential Care Home on 26 October 2017. This was an unannounced inspection. At the last inspection April 2015 the service was rated as Good. However during our previous inspection we found the service had not notified the Care Quality Commission about the absence of a registered manager for a continuous period of 28 days or more. During this inspection we checked to determine whether the required improvements had been made. We found the service had a registered manager in place and was now meeting the regulation.

Lakeside House Residential Care Home is a care home providing personal care and support for people with learning disabilities. The home is registered for eight people. At the time of the inspection they were providing personal care and support to seven people.

There was a registered manager in post. 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 provider had failed to submit statutory notifications relating to significant incidents that had occurred. A statutory notification is a notice informing CQC of significant events and is required by law.

The experiences of people who lived at the service were positive. People and their relatives told us they felt the service was safe, staff were kind and the care they received was good. We found staff had a good understanding of their responsibility with regard to safeguarding adults.

Risk assessments were in place which provided guidance on how to support people safely. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. Medicines were managed in a safe manner. There were sufficient numbers of suitable staff employed by the service. Staff had been recruited safely with appropriate checks on their backgrounds completed.

Staff undertook training and received regular supervision to help support them to provide effective care. Staff we spoke with had a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). MCA and DoLS is legislation protecting people who are unable to make decisions for themselves or whom the state has decided their liberty needs to be deprived in their own best interests. We saw people were able to choose what they ate and drank.

Person centred support plans were in place and people and their relatives were involved in planning the care and support they received.

People’s cultural and religious needs were respected when planning and delivering care. Discussions with staff members showed that they respected people’s sexual orientation so that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people could feel accepted and welcomed in the service.

People had access to a wide variety of activities within the community. The provider had a complaint procedure in place. People and their relatives knew how to make a complaint.

Staff told us the registered manager was approachable and open. The service had various quality assurance and monitoring mechanisms in place. These included surveys, audits and staff and resident meetings.

The registered provider did not always uphold all of their responsibilities to the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to any concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.

We inspected Lakeside House Residential Care Home on 8 April 2015. This was an announced inspection. The service was given 24 hours’ notice because we needed to be sure that someone would be in.

Lakeside House Residential Care Home is a care home providing personal care and support for people with learning disabilities. The home is registered for eight people. At the time of the inspection they were providing personal care and support to seven people.

There was not a registered manager at the service at the time of our inspection. The previous registered manager left the service in August 2014. The manager told us they had been acting in the role since August 2014 and planned to be until a registered manager is appointed. This meant the service did not have a registered manager for seven months. The service had not notified the Care Quality Commission about the absence of a registered manager for a continuous period of 28 days or more. 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 who used the service and their relatives told us they felt safe and were happy with the care and support provided. We found that systems were in place to help ensure people were safe. For example, staff had a good understanding of what constituted abuse and the abuse reporting procedures. People’s finances were managed and audited regularly by staff. People were given their prescribed medicines safely.

Staff received regular supervision and undertook regular training. People had access to health care professionals and the home sought to promote people’s health. People were supported to make their own decisions where they had capacity. Where people lacked capacity proper procedures were followed in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. People were provided with a choice of healthy food and drink ensuring their nutritional needs were met.

We found people were cared for by sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, skilled and experienced staff. However staff members told us arrangements were not always in place to cover staff when people had appointments. Robust recruitment and selection procedures were in place and appropriate checks had been undertaken before staff began work.

People’s needs were assessed and care and support was planned and delivered in line with their individual care needs. The support plans contained a good level of information setting out how each person should be supported to ensure their needs were met. Care and support was tailored to meet people’s individual needs and staff knew people well. The support plans included risk assessments. Staff had good relationships with the people living at the home and the atmosphere was happy and relaxed.

We observed interactions between staff and people living in the home and staff were caring and respectful to people when supporting them. Staff knew how to respect people’s privacy and dignity. People were supported to attend meetings where they could express their views about the service.

We found that people were supported to access the local community and wider society. This included education opportunities. People using the service pursued their own individual activities and interests, with the support of staff if required.

People who lived at the home, relatives and staff felt comfortable about sharing their views and talking to the manager if they had any concerns. The manager demonstrated a good understanding of their role and responsibilities. There were systems in place to routinely monitor the safety and quality of the service provided.

We found one breach of the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.