The inspection took place on 17 April 2018 and was announced.

This was the first inspection of the service since its registration with us in November 2016. The service had initially registered under the brand name Home Instead Senior Care. In November 2017 the service had been renamed as Unique Senior Care.

Unique Senior Care at Tithe Lodge is registered to provide personal care to people living in specialist 'extra care' housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is rented or purchased on a shared ownership scheme, and is the occupant's own home. People's care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection only looked at people's personal care service.

Unique Senior Care also provide an on-call emergency service to everyone living in the building under a separate ‘well-being’ arrangement with the landlord, which people pay for as part of the service charge for the shared premises.

Tithe Lodge has 75 one or two bedroom apartments. People living at Tithe Lodge share on-site facilities such as a lift, lounge, restaurant, laundry and garden. People who need support with personal care are free to choose Unique Senior Care or any other domiciliary care service as their provider. At the time of this inspection, Unique Senior Care supported 32 people, 26 of whom received support with personal care.

The service had a registered manager, however they were on temporary leave from the service. 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. There was an interim manager who also managed two of the provider’s other extra care services, (we refer to them as the ‘manager’ in our report).

People were protected from the risks of abuse because staff received training in safeguarding people and understood their responsibility to report any concerns to senior staff. Risks to people's health and wellbeing were managed.

The manager made sure there were enough suitably skilled, qualified and experienced staff to support people safely and effectively. The provider checked staff were suitable for their role before they started working for the service.

Staff worked within the principles of the MCA and supported people to have maximum choice and control of their lives. People were supported to eat and drink enough to maintain a balanced diet that met their needs and preferences. People were supported to maintain their health.

People, relatives and staff felt well cared for. Staff understood people’s needs and interests and supported them to enjoy their lives according to their preferences. Staff respected people’s right to privacy and supported people to maintain their independence.

The provider and the manager demonstrated they valued care staff and promoted their learning and development. Staff enjoyed their work and were motivated to provide people with a good standard of care.

People were involved in planning how they were cared for and supported. Care was planned to meet people’s individual needs and preferences and care plans were regularly reviewed. People knew how to complain and had the opportunity to share their views and opinions about the service they received.

The provider demonstrated improvements to the quality of the care they delivered. They worked in partnership with other organisations to make sure they followed current best practice. Systems ensured good standards of care were consistently maintained for people.