The inspection was unannounced and took place on 20 December 2017.

The home is registered to provide accommodation and personal care, for a maximum of eight people with learning disabilities and there were eight people living at the home on the day of the inspection. A registered manager was in place. A 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.

We last inspected this service on 28 September and 4 October 2016 and rated it ‘Requires improvement’. We found people's rights were not always protected because key processes had not been followed or implemented to ensure that people's rights were upheld. We also found audit systems had not always been effective at identifying where improvements were needed. This inspection found there had been improvements across the service.

People were supported by staff to take their medicines and records were completed by staff to record when medicines had been administered.

People were cared for by staff who were trained in recognising and understanding how to report potential abuse. Staff knew how to raise any concerns about people’s safety and shared information so that people’s safety needs were met.

Staff were available to meet people’s individual needs promptly and demonstrated good knowledge about people living at the home. Staff told us training helped them meet the specific needs of the people living at the home and they attended regular training to ensure they kept their knowledge updated.

Staff understood the importance of ensuring people agreed to the care and support they provided and when to involve others to help people make important decisions. The registered manager was aware of their responsibilities in regard to the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and had submitted the appropriate applications where they had assessed that people were potentially receiving care that restricted their liberty.

People enjoyed a good choice of meals and were supported to access professional healthcare outside of the home, for example, they had regular visits with their GP and any changes to their care needs were recorded and implemented.

People were relaxed around the staff supporting them. We heard and saw positive communication throughout our inspection and saw people smiling and responding positively to staff. Relatives we spoke with told us people enjoyed good relationships with staff. Staff showed us that they knew the interests, likes and dislikes of people and people were supported to enjoy various activities. We saw that staff ensured that they were respectful of people’s choices and decisions.

Relatives said they were involved in reviews of people’s care and said staff listened to them. Relatives and staff felt confident they could raise any issues should the need arise and that action would be taken as a result.

The provider had systems in place to check and improve the quality of the service provided. People, relatives and staff were positive about the service and the way it was managed for the people that lived there. The registered manager demonstrated clear leadership and staff were supported to carry out their roles and responsibilities effectively, so that people received care and support in-line with their needs and wishes.

Our inspection took place on 28 September and 4 October 2016. This was an unannounced inspection. This was the first inspection of this service since its registration in December 2015.

Minstead House is registered to provide accommodation and support for up to eight people who have a learning disability. At the time of our inspection four people were living at the service.

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.’

Systems in place to monitor and improve the service had not always been effective in identifying where improvements to the service needed to be made.

People received care and support with their consent where possible, and the staff ensured that people were supported in the least restrictive way.

People were protected from the risk of abuse because the provider ensured that staff had received the training they needed so that they could recognise and respond to the risk of abuse.

People were supported by staff that were kind and caring and who took the time to get to know them. People were cared for by staff that protected their privacy and dignity and respected them as individuals.

People were supported by enough staff. Staff had been safely recruited and had received adequate training so that they had the skills and knowledge to support people effectively.

People were supported to have their medicines when they required them, from staff that had the relevant knowledge and skills they required to promote safe medication management.

People were supported to stay healthy and had access to health care professionals as required.

People could choose how to spend their day and they took part in activities in the home and the community. People were supported to maintain positive relationships with their relatives.

There were some processes in place for responding to complaints.