The Willows

The Willows is a 'care home'. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The Willows accommodates a maximum of 12 people. People are supported across two separate houses with each house accommodating up to six people. At the time of the inspection there were ten people using the service. The Willows follow the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

There was a registered manager at 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.

People received safe care and we found there were enough staff to provide support to people that met their needs. We found that people's risks were assessed and managed to protect them from the risk of harm and people received their medicines safely. The provider had safe recruitment procedures in place to ensure that staff were of a good character and suitable to support people who used the service. People were protected from infection and cross contamination risks.

People were supported to make decisions about their care and staff sought people's consent before they carried out support. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. People's nutritional needs were met and people had positive mealtime experiences. People had access to health care services and advice sought was followed by staff to ensure people's health and wellbeing was maintained. Staff received training to enable them to support people effectively. The environment was designed and adapted to meet people's needs and promote independence.

People were treated with dignity and staff were caring and kind. People's privacy was respected an upheld, people chose to have time to themselves in their private rooms and staff respected their wishes. Staff encouraged people's independence and understood people's individual communication needs. Staff supported people to maintain relationships with relatives/friends.

People were supported with interests and hobbies that were important to them. People and their relatives were involved in the planning and review of their care. Staff knew people well, which meant people were supported in line with their preferences. People understood how to complain if they needed to because complaints procedures were in a format that people understood. Plans were in place to gain people's views of how they wanted to be supported at the end of their life.

Systems were in place to assess and monitor the quality of the service people received. People and staff were encouraged to provide feedback about the service. The registered manager was approachable and supportive to both people and staff and understood the requirements of their registration with us (CQC).

The five questions we ask about services and what we found