About the service: Burgess Field offers extra care sheltered accommodation in rented self-contained flats for up to 28 people. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. The care quality commission (CQC) does not regulate premises used for extra care housing. The service is registered to provide personal care and is staffed 24 hours a day. People receive care and support from on site staff and other external domiciliary care agencies.

At the time of the inspection, the service was providing personal care to 17 people. CQC only inspects the service being received by people being supported 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.

The service did not have 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.

What life is like for people using this service:

People using the service were happy with the support they received and felt the service provided a good standard of care. However, people were not always receiving the appropriate support to take their prescribed medicines safely.

People's needs were assessed before they started using the service. Care and support plans recorded people's needs and preferences.

Staff demonstrated an understanding of consent and capacity issues in relation to mental health legislation.

People's privacy was respected. Staff promoted people’s independence and encouraged them to complete tasks and participate in the activities they enjoyed.

Risk assessments and guidance were in place. Staff were aware of how risks to people’s health and well-being could be minimised.

The provider had a safeguarding policy in place which was accessible to staff. Systems were in place to safeguard people from the risk of possible abuse.

People were supported to eat and drink where this formed part of an agreed package of care.

The service worked in partnership with others. People were supported to access healthcare services when required such as GP's and hospital departments.

Staff received supervision and support and had completed an induction period that included shadowing more experienced members of staff before working with people on their own.

People were encouraged to feedback about the service and staff acted on the comments received to improve the quality of the service.

The provider completed quality audits and spot checks. However, checks carried out to ensure medicines were managed safely were not always effective at remedying the shortfalls we identified during this inspection.

We identified a breach of the regulation relating to safe care and treatment. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.

Rating at last inspection: We rated this service good overall at our previous inspection in June 2016.

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the previous inspection.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about this service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.

We carried out an unannounced inspection on 31 May and 1 June 2016. Burgess Field offers extra care sheltered accommodation in self-contained flats for up to 28 people. The service is registered to provide personal care and is staffed 24 hours a day. People supported by the service were living with a range of needs including chronic health conditions, physical disabilities and dementia. People can choose whether they wish to receive support from staff on site and/or from other external domiciliary care agencies. At the time of our inspection, twenty five people were living at Burgess Field of whom 16 were receiving support directly from care staff employed by the provider. This is our first inspection since the service transferred to its current provider in December 2014.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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 registered manager was on leave at the time of our visit. Following the inspection he contacted us by phone to discuss aspects of the service.

People’s needs were assessed before moving into the service. Initial assessments were used to design a package of care for people ensuring their needs could be met by staff at the service. We were unable to locate assessments in the all of the care records we looked at during our visit because older records had been archived off site. Where we were able to ascertain that people's needs had been assessed, care and support plans took account of people's individual needs, preferences, and choices.

Risk assessments were in place that gave guidance to staff on how risks to people could be minimised. The provider had an up to date safeguarding policy which was accessible to staff and systems were in place to safeguard people from the risk of possible harm. Most staff were able to demonstrate a good understanding of the provider’s whistleblowing policy.

We were unable to review the provider’s staff recruitment records as these were held off site. We asked the registered manager to confirm that staff had been recruited safely, completed the necessary Disclosure and Barring Service checks, provided proof of identity and had the right to work in the UK. We received confirmation from the provider that all necessary checks had been completed and staff were safe to work with people using the service.

People were supported by caring and respectful staff and were supported to access other healthcare services when required such as GP's and district nursing services.

Staff had received training in mental health legislation and demonstrated an understanding of consent and capacity issues in relation to this legislation. Where possible, care plans had been signed by people using the service.

Staff received formal supervision and support and had completed an induction period that included shadowing more experienced members of staff before working with people on their own.

The provider had a formal process for handling complaints and concerns. They encouraged feedback from people and acted on the comments received to improve the quality of the service.

There were a range of quality monitoring processes in place to ensure care practices and service delivery were continually monitored and improvements made where indicated.