About the service:

• Marchwood House is a domiciliary care and supported living service. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community and within supported living accommodation. It provides a service to adults with a learning disability and mental health needs.

• The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects the service being received by people provided with personal care; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of the inspection four people were receiving personal care.

People’s experience of using this service:

• The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support in the following ways: Promotion of choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.

• People using the service told us they felt safe with the staff that supported them. Risks associated with people’s care needs were managed safely and reviewed regularly. Where the service took on the responsibility for administering medicines, they were managed safely.

• Staffing arrangements ensured people received person centred support from a consistent team of staff.

• People received care and support from staff that treated them with kindness and respect. Staff received appropriate training and support to enable them to perform their roles effectively.

• People were involved in developing their care plans. They were personalised to meet people’s individual needs and updated regularly.

• Staff demonstrated their understanding of the Mental Capacity Act, 2005. They gained people’s consent before providing personal care and support.

• Systems were in place to monitor the quality of service and action was taken where areas for improvement had been found.

More information is in the full report.

Rating at last inspection:

Good - Report published 5 September 2019.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up:

Going forward we will continue to monitor this service and plan to inspect in line with our reinspection schedule for those services rated Good.

This inspection took place on the 4 and 9 August 2016 and was announced. The service supports people with learning disabilities, mental health difficulties and brain acquired injuries. The service is registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes or shared accommodation when they are unable to manage their own care. At the time of the inspection there were 2 people using the service.

There was a registered manager in post 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.

People who could verbally communicate told us that they felt safe and secure in their own home with the staff that supported them. Staff understood the need to protect people from harm and knew what action they should take if they had any concerns. Staffing levels ensured that people received the support they required at the times they needed and by the staff they had chosen. The recruitment practice protected people from being cared for by staff that were unsuitable to work in their home and people were involved in choosing which staff supported them.

Support plans contained risk assessments to protect people from identified risks and helped to keep them safe; they provided information for staff about the identified risk and informed staff of the measures to take to minimise any risks.

People were actively involved in decisions about their care and support needs. Staff understood their role in caring for people with limited or no capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

People participated in a range of activities both in their own home and in the community and received the support they needed to help them do this. People were able to choose where they spent their time and what they did.

Staff had good relationships with the people who they supported and were passionate about promoting people’s independence and ensuring people lived as fulfilled a life as possible. Staff had the skills and knowledge to provide the care and support people needed and were supported by a registered manager who was receptive to ideas and committed to providing a high standard of care and support.

The registered manager was approachable and had systems in place to monitor the quality of the service provided. Staff and people were confident that issues would be addressed and that any concerns they had would be listened to.

We spoke with two of the three people that lived at Marchwood Close, and they both told us that they liked living there. One person told us that they were able to look after themselves quite well and that staff were able to support them with things that they could not do.

We spoke with family members and they told us that their relative was “very happy at Marchwood and staff there knew them very well”. Another family member told us that their relative trusted the staff and that they were “absolutely brilliant” with the support they had provided to their family member.

We found that people were well cared for and that they had been involved in the planning of their support needs.

We found that people were supported by staff that were knowledgeable and had relevant experience.