We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by an inspector and an Expert by Experience on the first day, and by an inspector on the second day. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Palace House Care Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

Before the inspection, we looked at the information we held about the service. This information included statutory notifications the provider had sent to CQC. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We also contacted local authority commissioners and two healthcare professionals for their views about the service. This information helps support our inspections. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

During the inspection, we spent time in the communal areas observing how staff provided support for people to help us better understand their experiences of the care they received. We spoke with five people living in the home and with one relative. We also spoke with the registered manager, two registered nurses, two care staff and the activity organiser.

We had a tour of the premises and looked at a range of documents and written records. These included three people's records related to their care and support, four staff recruitment records, training, induction and supervision records, staff rotas, minutes from meetings and complaints and compliments records, maintenance and servicing certificates and records related to the auditing and monitoring of service. We also looked at the most recent report (July 2019) following a visit from the local commissioning team.