St Andrews

Who the service is for

The service supports adults with a learning disability and associated health needs who require accommodation and personal care. Staff tailored support to each person's needs, preferences and goals. They focused on promoting independence, choice and control while helping people stay safe and access healthcare and community opportunities.

Key findings

We carried out this assessment on 25 July 2026.

This service was previously rated as good. We carried out this assessment to confirm whether the rating of good remains accurate. This report does not provide detailed information on areas where we found practice continues to meet a good standard. Instead, our findings focus on any areas where the service needs to improve or where we found exceptional practice.

People told us they felt safe and relatives were confident in the care and support provided. Staff learned from incidents and safeguarding concerns to improve practice. They understood people's individual risks and supported them to stay safe while promoting their independence and choice. People were supported by enough staff who had the skills and knowledge to meet their needs safely. Medicines were managed and administered safely overall, although we found improvements were needed to strengthen oversight of environmental safety, infection prevention and control, and medicines auditing. The provider acted promptly during and after the assessment to address the issues we identified.

People can only be deprived of their liberty to receive care and treatment with appropriate legal authority. In care homes, this can be done through a procedure called the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), which is part of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). We checked whether the service was working within the principles of the MCA and how they managed DoLS within the service. We found that staff and management worked within the MCA. DoLS authorisations were appropriately applied for and overseen. People were not subject to unlawful or excessive restrictions they had choice, control and freedom over their lives. One staff member told us, "We give them [people] choices and respect their choices." People confirmed staff respected their decisions, with one person telling us, "If I say I don't want to do something, staff listen."

Staff assessed people's needs before they moved into the service and reviewed care when their needs changed. They followed recognised guidance, worked with healthcare professionals and families, and supported people to achieve positive outcomes, including improved health, greater independence and access to healthcare.

Staff treated people with kindness, compassion and respect. They knew people well, promoted privacy, dignity, choice and independence, and adapted support to meet people's communication needs, culture and preferences. One relative told us staff were "always nice".

Staff provided person-centred care that reflected people's preferences, goals and aspirations. They involved people and their relatives in decisions about care, supported people to develop independent living skills and access meaningful activities, and adapted communication to ensure everyone could make informed choices and participate fully in daily life.

People, relatives and staff described an open and positive culture that had improved under the registered manager's leadership. Staff felt listened to and supported to raise ideas and learn from incidents and feedback. We found governance systems needed to improve so audits identified environmental, infection prevention and control and medicines recording issues sooner. Leaders responded quickly to our findings and strengthened monitoring arrangements.