14 December 2011
During an inspection looking at part of the service
During this inspection visit we looked at outcomes four and sixteen of the essential standards of quality and safety, under the regulations of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. Outcome four looks at the care and welfare needs of people using the service. Outcome sixteen looks at how the service assesses and monitors the quality of the services that people receive.
We involve people who use services and family careers to help us improve the way we inspect and write our inspection reports. Because of their unique knowledge and experience of using health and care services, we have called them experts by experience.
Our experts by experience are people of all ages, from diverse cultural backgrounds who have used a range of health and/or social care services.
An expert by experience took part in this inspection and talked to the people who used the service and their visitors. They looked at what happened in the home and what it was like for the people who lived there. They took some notes and wrote a report about what they found and details are included in this report.
The visit was unannounced. This means that the service did not know that we were coming. We observed staff to be attentive to the needs and welfare of people and there was a happy friendly atmosphere at the home. People who lived in the home and their visitors were pleased to see us and were eager to chat and answer our questions. People told us that they felt well cared for by the staff. Without exception all of the people who lived in the home and their visitors were complimentary about the care and support they received. People were getting the care and support they needed but care plans did not clearly reflect people's individual choices, preferences and diversity.
The service provided a good skill mix of staff who felt that their training needs were addressed and they felt well supported by the registered manager.