This inspection took place on the 17 March 2017 and was unannounced. The service is registered to provide accommodation with personal care and support for up to 15 people with learning disability and acquired brain injury. The premises is a converted residential property that has been adapted to provide facilities for people with disability.

At the time of inspection there were 14 people in residence being supported. At the last inspection in March 2015, the service was rated ‘Good’ and at this inspection we found the service remained a ‘Good’ service.

The service had a registered manager. 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 continued to receive safe care. People were consistently protected from the risks of harm; staff knew how to manage risks, whilst promoting people's rights to take risks. Staff were appropriately recruited and there were enough staff to provide care and support so that people felt safe in the home. Staffing levels were kept under review to ensure that people’s needs were met in timely way. Staff understood their responsibilities to safeguard people and knew how to respond if they had any concerns. The medicines administration systems ensured people consistently received their medicines safely from staff that had received the appropriate training.

The care that people received continued to be effective. People had enough to eat and drink and enjoyed a varied and nutritious diet. The staff support, training and professional development systems ensured staff had the right skills, knowledge and experience to effectively meet people’s needs on a daily and long term basis.

People had detailed personalised plans of care in place to inform and enable staff to provide consistent care and support. There were positive relationships between people using the service and the staff. The staff were caring and treated people with respect, kindness and compassion. They had a good understanding of each person’s complex support needs. People were enabled to make choices about the way in which their care and support was provided. They were supported to access the wider community, and maintain contact with family and friends.

People knew how to raise a concern or make a complaint and the provider responded appropriately to any concerns or complaints. There were systems in place to monitor the quality and standard of the service. Timely action was taken to address any shortfalls and make improvements. The registered manager was readily approachable by staff and service users alike for guidance and support.

This inspection took place on the 9 March 2015 and was unannounced. The service is registered to provide nursing and personal care to 15 people with learning disability and acquired brain injury. At the time of our inspection there were 10 people living there. The premises is a converted residential property that has been adapted to provide facilities for people with disability.

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.

The provider had robust recruitment systems in place; which included appropriate checks on the suitability of new staff to work in the home. Staff received a thorough induction training to ensure they had the skills to fulfil their roles and responsibilities. There was a stable staff team and there were enough staff available to meet peoples’ needs.

Systems were in place to ensure people were protected from abuse; staff had received training and were aware of their responsibilities in raising any concerns about people’s welfare. There were formal systems in place to assess people’s capacity for decision making under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS).

Peoples’ care was planned to ensure they received the individual support that they required to maintain their health, safety, independence, mobility and nutrition. People were supported to access appropriate health care services and had access to appropriate equipment to meet their needs. People received support that maintained their privacy and dignity and systems were in place to ensure people received their medicines as and when they required them. People were able to participate in meaningful activities and there were individual and group activities that were taking place in the home. People were involved in making decisions about their care and had opportunities participate in the running of the home.

People had confidence in the management of the home and there were systems in place to assess the quality of service provided. Records were maintained in good order and demonstrated that people received the care that they needed.

Some of the people who lived at 144 Boughton Green Road were limited in their ability to recall their experiences or express their views; in these circumstances observation was used to inform the inspection.

We spoke with four people who used this service, they told us staff explained their individual care needs to them and they were asked for their consent before staff provided any care.

People also said they were well looked after and the staff knew how they needed and wished to be supported. They told us staff were kind to them and they felt safe in their care.

We saw people were comfortable and relaxed within their environment and they looked well cared for. We saw that staff were responsive to people’s needs and supported them with kindness when they became distressed.

In this report the name of a registered manager (Mrs Katherine Messinger) appears who was not in post and not managing the regulatory activities at this location at the time of the inspection. Their name appears because they were still a Registered Manager on our register at the time. During the inspection visit, we spoke with four people who used the service to find out their views of how their needs were being met by staff at the home. We also spoke to the registered manager and three staff on duty.

The people we spoke with told us that they liked living at 144 Boughton Green Road. One person told us “it’s a nice place and clean”. They said the staff were good and helped them when they needed their support. Another person told us that they had house meetings and discussed activities, menus, and any other issues about their care or the running of the home. They said they were all aware of how to make a complaint to staff if they were not happy about anything. All the people told us that they had theme nights and take away food, which they choose and enjoyed.

144 Boughton Green Road specialised in providing care to people with acquired brain injury, as such some of the people were limited in their ability to recall their experiences and to express their views. In order to obtain information about peoples' experiences of living at 144 Boughton Green Road and assess how their needs were being met by the staff, we observed people's engagement, demeanour and body language.

People looked well cared for, were happy and enthusiastic about the activities that were ongoing throughout the day, such as going out for morning coffee and an organised group physical activity during the afternoon.

We spoke with four people during our visit; they told us they liked living at 144 Boughton Green Road. One person told us that they had friends living at the home and that they knew how to raise any concerns should they need to do so. Two people were able to tell us that the food was good, that they had enough to eat and that they were involved in making decisions about the menu choices.

All of the people that we spoke with indicated that they were well looked after and that the staff knew how they needed and wished to be supported. People told us that they liked living at 144 Boughton Green Road, that the staff were nice to them and that they felt safe.