Seaview House is a large period property. Community Integrated Care run Seaview House and provide care and services for up to four people living with a learning disability. They operate a number of similar facilities in Cumbria and other parts of the country.

The home is situated in the centre of the village of Crosscanonby. Public transport does not come to this village but can be reached from the nearby village of Crosby.

People in the home had access to their own transport so that they can visit the nearby town of Maryport and beyond.

Accommodation is in single rooms and there are suitable shared areas. There is one bedroom on the ground floor which affords disabled access to all facilities. There is a pleasant garden with views across the Solway.

At the last inspection, the service was rated as good. At this inspection we found the service remained good. The service met all relevant fundamental standards.

The home has a suitably qualified and experienced 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.

The staff team understood how to protect vulnerable adults from harm and abuse and had received suitable training. Good risk assessments and risk management plans were in place to support people. There had been no accidents of note in the service. Potential incidents were suitably managed.

There were enough staff to give people suitable support. Staff received good levels of training and support. Arrangements were in place to ensure that new members of staff had been suitably vetted and were the right kind of people to work with vulnerable adults. The registered provider had suitable disciplinary policies and procedures.

Medicines were appropriately managed. People had access to suitable health care. They were encouraged to take a healthy diet.

The house was clean and fresh and there were suitable systems in place to ensure good infection control. Some adaptations had been made to keep people as safe as possible in the house. The house was comfortable and people were relaxed in their home.

People were asked for consent to interactions. Restrain had not been used in the service. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The staff we met were kind and caring. People responded well to them. Staff had received training in person centred care and in equality and diversity. People had access to advocacy.

Each person had a suitable care plan and person centred planning was in place. These were based on on-going, detailed assessments.

People went out on a regular basis and followed their own activities and interests. Staff were looking at ways to give people more options and to develop more community involvement.

There had been no complaints received about the service. There were suitable policies and procedures in place.

There had been a recent change of registered manager following a retirement. The registered manager already managed a service for the provider and was suitably trained and experienced.

The service had a comprehensive quality assurance programme in place. Records were of a good standard.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

This inspection took place on the 17th of April 2015 and was unannounced.

Seaview House is located in the coastal village of Crosscannonby near Maryport. The service provides support for up to four people with a learning disability who have complex needs and limited verbal communication.

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.

The service had sufficient staff available to support people.

The staff knew how to identify abuse and how to report their concerns.

The service had carried out risk assessments to ensure that they identified potential hazards and protect people from harm.

Medicines were ordered, stored, administered and disposed of correctly.

Staff had been trained to an appropriate standard and met regularly with their manager or a senior member of staff for supervision.

People were supported to take a good diet that was based on an assessment of their nutritional needs.

Staff had developed good relationships with people and respected their privacy.

People received appropriate support to enable them to access the local community.

Care plans were based on thorough assessments and contained sufficient information to enable people to be supported correctly.

The registered manager provided good leadership. The provider had systems in place to ensure the delivery of good quality care.

When we visited there were four people living in the home. One person was out all day at a day centre, one person went out for an afternoon drive and a cup of tea. While another chose to go out for a walk. Some of the people we met on the day had limited verbal communication. However, we observed lively and positive interactions between staff and people in the home which made for a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. We judged that staff were well trained and supported to offer care and support to people in a skilled and sensitive manner. People were leading interesting lives of their choosing and were being supported to stay healthy and well.

One person told us, “I love it here, staff are my friends and help me do things I like and go on holiday. My room has a large TV and I have loads of DVDs.”

Staff had developed good working relationships with health and social care professionals to ensure people had access to a full range of services to promote people’s physical and mental well being.

We saw that there were effective managerial systems in place to monitor that people living at the home received a good standard of care and support, including robust methods of record keeping.

On the day we visited there were four people living in the home. One person was out shopping with staff support. Across the day the other three people chose to spend their time in different ways, for example listening to music in their own room, watching television and going out for a walk.

One person was keen to tell us about a recent event that the organisation who run the home, Community Integrated Care (CIC), had organised that was a copy of the Olympics and residents and staff had taken part in a variety of sports followed by a buffet at a local sports centre.

This person also told us, "The staff are great, I like all of them. They help me to do the things I like".

We observed people having plenty of positive interactions with staff. Both staff and residents enjoyed each others company and there was a relaxed and homely atmosphere.