Archived: Cobgates Resource Centre

Relatives that we spoke with were very positive about the standard of care provided. One told us, 'Staff do remind my relative about little things like cleaning their teeth, but they are very pleasant and not at all pushy. My relative always look clean and well presented'.

People and relatives that we spoke with confirmed that the food in the service was good and that there was always plenty for them to drink. One person said 'They do make sure I drink enough without being bossy about it'. We observed the service of lunch and saw that the food was well presented and appeared appetising.

We found that the service 'Statement of Purpose' contained all the required information to give a clear understanding of the services provided at Cobgates.

We found that an effective complaints procedure was in place and that people and relatives had been provided with information in a format which met their needs. People and relatives that we spoke with confirmed that they would be confident to make a complaint about the service, if appropriate.

At the time of our inspection the provider did not have a registered manager in post.

We found that appropriate care was delivered to people who used the service because their needs had been assessed, recorded and planned for appropriately. People's choices had been recorded, listened to and respected.

One relative and three people we spoke with all said they felt, they or their family member, were safe at this home and that the staff had always been patient and caring. We found that people had been protected against the risk of abuse because the staff had been appropriately trained. We saw evidence that, where concerns had been raised they had been responded to and reported appropriately.

People we spoke with told us they had been asked about the quality of the service. They said "They always ask if everything is alright and give us choices". " We have meetings where we can tell them our views". We found that the provider sought people's views in a number of ways and had made changes to the service as a result of people's opinions.

We did not speak to people who used the service on this occasion. This was because we needed to review a sample of the records and speak to the staff about any improvements that had been made to the systems for keeping accurate records, since the last inspection in October 2012.

We found that improvements had been made to the records and to the system the provider was using to monitor the quality of the record keeping. This meant that the risks to people receiving inappropriate care because of inaccurate record keeping had reduced since the last inspection.

We spoke with 4 people who used the service. The majority of people who lived at this home had some level of dementia, therefore, we used a number of methods to try to gain an understanding of their experiences. This included observing the interactions between people and staff, talking to staff and reviewing records related to people's care and welfare.

People told us they liked living at this home and they felt the staff provided the care they needed in a kind and caring manner. One person told us that staff had spent time with them when they had been upset.

People told us the food was either 'good' or 'alright' and they said they chose what they wanted to eat.

We saw that staff generally communicated well with people and offered them choices about their daily care.

We saw that at lunch time staff offered people two plates with the different meal options for people to choose from.

This meant people with dementia could choose what they wanted at the time, rather than trying to remember what they had ordered the day before from a printed menu.

We observed two occasions when staff did not communicate with people. On one occasion this was when a member of staff gave tablets to a person without any explanation. On another occasion a member of staff did not answer a person's direct question.