7 September 2012
During a routine inspection
We spent time at the home talking to seven people who currently live there, two visiting family members and five members of staff. We also observed how care and support was delivered through different times of the day. At the time of this inspection there were 46 people living at the home.
Some people that live at this service have dementia and therefore not everyone was able to tell us about their experiences. To help us understand the experiences of people we used our SOFI (Short Observational Framework for Inspection). This tool allows us to spent time watching what is going on in a service and helps us record how people spend their time, the type of support they get and whether they have positive experiences. Some people using the service were able to tell us their views.
We looked at some of the key records kept by the home. These included care plans, risk assessments, staff training records and medication records. This helped us to better understand how well the home was run.
People we spoke with who were able to share their experiences of living at the service were very positive. Comments included 'you would go a long way to find better than this.', 'I find all the staff good, but I don't approve of men in the bedroom. They do make sure the girls do my bath.' and 'Yes I like it here well enough, they are very kind, but I would rather be home. Can't grumble, the food is good and it's very nice.'
We saw that there was a robust system for the safe handling, storage, administration and recording of medications. This helps to protect people and keep them pain free.
We observed staff providing care and support in a kind and sensitive manner and we were told by staff that they felt well trained and supported to do their job.
We found that there were some gaps in information in care plans for some people. This meant that staff may not have all the information needed to care for people safely and in a way that had been agreed with the individual. We have asked the service to provide an action plan to show us how they intend to be fully compliant in maintaining accurate and up to date records for people.