The Bungalow is a residential care home for ten people with learning disabilities. It provides short and longer-term breaks for up to ten people. At the time of our inspection nine people were living there; seven people were on planned breaks and two people live there are on a more permanent basis. There are over forty different people who use the short stay service in total. It is in a purpose-built home with several communal areas and large gardens.

At our last inspection we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

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People continued to receive safe care. There were enough staff to support them and they were recruited to ensure that they were safe to work with people. People were protected from the risk of harm and received their prescribed medicines safely. Lessons were learnt from when mistakes happened.

The care that people received continued to be effective. They 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. Staff received training and support to be able to care for people well. They ensured that people were supported to maintain good health and nutrition; including partnerships with other organisations when needed. The environment was adapted to meet people’s needs.

People continued to have positive relationships with the staff who were caring and treated people with respect and kindness. They were able to get involved in activities and pursue their interests. Staff knew them well and understood how to care for them in a personalised way. There were plans in place which detailed people’s likes and dislikes and these were regularly reviewed. People knew how to raise a concern or make a complaint and the registered manager managed any complaints in line with the provider’s procedure.

The registered manager was approachable and there were systems in place which encouraged people to give their feedback. There were quality structures in place which were effective in continually developing the quality of the care that was provided to them.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

This inspection took place on the 11 March 2016 and was unannounced. At our previous inspection on the 31 October 2013 the service was meeting the regulations that we checked.

South Derbyshire and Dales Short Break and Assessment Service provides personal care for up to 10 adults with a learning disability and associated conditions. The service is known locally and by people that use the service as Newhall bungalow. We will therefore refer to this service as Newhall bungalow throughout this report. Newhall bungalow is separated into two units. One was for people who live in the community to have a short break, the other was a life skills unit. This unit was for people to learn and gain independent living skills. Some people were staying at Newhall Bungalow on a long term basis whilst others went for short term respite care. There were seven people staying at Newhall Bungalow on the day of our inspection.

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. The registered manager oversaw the running of the full service and was supported by a unit manager and deputy managers.

Staff understood what constituted abuse or poor practice and systems and processes were in place to protect people from the risk of harm. People were protected against the risk of abuse, as checks were made to confirm staff were of good character and suitable to work in a care environment. Staff knew how to respond to incidents if the registered manager was not in the service. People told us and we saw there were sufficient staff available to support them. Medicines were managed safely and people were supported to take their medicine as prescribed.

People were treated with dignity and respect and had their choices acted on. The staff worked in partnership with people when supporting them. People confirmed that staff supported them in the way they wanted. Staff knew people’s likes and dislikes and care records reflected how people wanted to be supported and how care was provided.

Equipment was in place to meet people’s diverse needs which enabled them to maintain choice and independence. People were supported to develop life skills to enable them to live more independently and they developed and maintained hobbies and interests within the local community to promote equality and integration.

The staff team actively sought and included people and their representatives in the planning of care. There were processes in place for people to raise any complaints and express their views and opinions about the service provided. There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service to enable the registered manager and provider to drive improvement.

There were 6 people using the service at the time of our visit. This included people receiving a service from the Short Break and from the Assessment service as part of their support to develop and maintain their life skills. We gained the comments of two family representatives and two people developing their life skills.

One family representative told us their relative enjoyed their time at the Short Break and Assessment service. The family representatives said they liked it when care workers took their relative out on day trips. Another person said they liked staying at the Short Break service, enjoyed their meals and staff companionship.

We saw medications were appropriately managed and were stored safely. We saw quality monitoring took place and people's opinions were taken into account to improve the service provided.

Two people told us when they needed help or support, staff were available to meet their needs.

One relatives comments included, “the place is kept spotlessly clean. Nothing is too much trouble, if staff can do anything to help they will”.

Two relatives told us, “our relative comes here regularly and they know all the staff by sight. Staff treat our relative with respect and dignity we are happy to use this service and any discussions with staff will be acted on”.