Housing 21 - Laurel Gardens

People's experience of the service and what we found We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

Right Support People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People were involved in their risk assessments and safety care planning arrangements. This helped to ensure people received the support they wanted. People were supported to receive their medicines safely from staff who had received training in safe medicines practices.

Right Care There were enough staff to meet people's packages of care. People said staff arrived when they expected them and did everything that was required of them. Staff understood their role in safeguarding people from the risks of abuse or discrimination and their responsibility to record and report any concerns. The provider had a clear management structure that monitored the quality of care to drive improvements in service delivery.

Right Culture People and relatives told us the registered manager and senior staff were visible in the home and were very approachable. People were invited to complete surveys and provide feedback on the quality of the care they received and make suggestions to develop the service further. Staff told us they enjoyed working at Laurel Gardens and valued their role in supporting people to live as independently as possible. Staff told us there was a 'no blame' culture in the service and learning was shared to improve outcomes for people.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk