Archived: The Cedars

Staff had access to guidance in regard to protecting the rights of people using the service, incapacity, as well as supporting people to make decisions. We spoke with two relatives who confirmed that they were involved in discussions and decisions about the care and treatment of the person who lived at the home. One said, "If medicines need to be reviewed, I am involved in this." Another said, "Yes" in response to our question about being involved and having information to enable them to give consent.

We saw that people were supported to access external services, such as dentists, dietitians and hospital appointments. One relative who spoke with us said they were informed when the person who used the service required a check-up or if treatment was needed.

There were appropriate arrangements in place to ensure that people received prescribed medicines in accordance with their needs. The management of medicines was carried out in accordance with safe practices.

There was a range of suitable equipment available to support the needs of people using the service at the time. Equipment had been checked and serviced.

Staff had access to a range of support through training and development, supervision and feedback on their performance. Staff were suitably skilled for their duties.

We found that the service had a statement of purpose which complied with all the requirements of the relevant Care Quality Commission regulation.

We found that improvements had been made to records maintained by the service, including night care records, fluid intake records and records relating to percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube feeding regimes.

We were assured that the records maintained by the service were accurate and fit for purpose.

Through examination of records maintained by CQC we found that a person had submitted an application to become the registered manager of the service and that the application had been approved.

We also gathered information by talking with two people's relatives on the telephone following the inspection. It was clear from speaking to people's relatives that they were satisfied with the care provided to their family members.

One person told us they were extremely happy with the care their relative received and with the continuity of carers. Another person's relative we spoke with told us that they thought that the staff always did their best, tried hard and that there were always enough staff on duty to meet people's needs.

We also gathered evidence of the service provider's performance through observing staff practice and sampling records and documents during and following the inspection.

We saw that the staff appeared happy in their work and were positive about working at the Cedars. The acting manager was not present during the inspection and we observed that staff got on with their duties in a methodical way and were confident to assist in the inspection process.