This inspection was carried out on 5 and 6 September 2016 and was announced. Twenty four hours’ notice of the inspection was given because we needed to be sure that people who wanted to speak to us were available during the inspection.

Wave Hill provides personal care for people with a learning disability in a shared house. There were three people using the service at the time of our inspection.

The provider was leading the service. Registered providers are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Staff were kind and caring to people and treated them with dignity and respect at all times. People were supported to be as independent as they could be.

Staff felt supported by the provider, were motivated and enthusiastic about their roles. The provider or a team leader was always available to provide any support and guidance staff needed. Staff shared the provider’s vision of a good quality service.

There were enough staff, who knew people well, to meet their needs at all times. The provider had considered people’s preferences when deciding which staff would support people. Staff were clear about their roles and responsibilities and worked as a team to support people to achieve what they wanted.

Checks had been completed to make sure staff were honest, trustworthy and reliable. Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) criminal records checks had been completed. The DBS helps employers make safer recruitment decisions and helps prevent unsuitable people from working with people who use care and support services.

Staff had completed the training they needed to provide safe and effective care to people and held recognised qualifications in care. They were supported to provide good quality care and met regularly with the provider to discuss their role and practice.

People’s care and support was planned and reviewed, to keep them safe and help them be independent. Possible risks to people had been identified and people were supported to stay as safe as possible, while remaining independent.

Staff knew the signs of abuse and were confident to raise any concerns they had with the provider or team leader. Systems were in place to manage complaints received.

People were supported to take the medicines they needed to keep them safe and well and attend regular health checks when they chose. Staff offered people advice and guidance about a healthy diet. People who needed assistance were supported to prepare their own meals.

The Care Quality Commission is required by law to monitor the operation of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). The provider understood their responsibilities in relation to DoLS. People were not restricted and went out when they wanted to.

The requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) had been met. The provider knew when assessments of people’s capacity to make decisions were needed. Staff supported people to make choices and respected the decisions they made. When people needed help to make a particular decision staff helped them. Decisions were made in people’s best interests with people who knew them well.

Regular checks were completed to make sure the quality of the service was to the required standard. People, staff and visiting professionals had been asked for their views of the service and these had been acted on.

Accurate records were kept about the day to day running of the service, care and the support people received. These provided staff with the information they needed to provide safe and consistent care to people.

There were two people receiving a personal care service from Wave Hill when we completed our inspection. The agency provided a 24 hours a day service supported by a team of six staff members. People who used the service were unable to talk to us about their experiences because of their disabilities so we spoke to people’s representatives and staff. We also contacted a local authority care manager. A relative told us they were happy with the service the person received. They told us their relative was very, very happy at the service and was happy and relaxed in the company of the staff.

People knew the staff team who provided their service and people told us that they thought their relatives were safe and treated with dignity and respect.

We saw that people’s needs were assessed and that they had been involved in planning their care. Staff we spoke with demonstrated that they knew people well and understood how people liked to be supported. A local authority care manager told us that they had observed both service users to be happy and settled and that their health colleagues felt that the people were healthy.

The provider had a process in place to protect people from the risk of abuse, and had taken reasonable steps to identify the possibility of abuse and prevent abuse from happening.

Sufficient staff, with appropriate skills, knowledge and experience, were available to provide people’s care and support.

People’s relatives and others involved in providing their care were asked for their views on the service people received and a process was in place to take action to address any shortfalls in the quality of the service.