Last updated 17 November 2018
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 19 July 2018 and was unannounced. It was undertaken by one inspector for adult social care, a specialist nurse advisor and an expert-by-experience with experience of working with older people. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Before the inspection we reviewed information we held about the service. This included previous inspection reports and notifications we had received. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. We also viewed the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We also looked at the ‘Enter and View’ Report by Barnet Healthwatch undertaken at the service in June 2018. This can be seen at http://www.healthwatchbarnet.co.uk/node/1330.

During the inspection we spoke with seven people who live at the service and five visiting relatives. We talked with one registered nurse, three care assistants, the registered manager and both deputy managers. We also spoke with a visiting health professional and chaplain who gave us feedback on the service and the management of the home.

We looked at four care records related to people’s individual care needs, three recruitment files and staff training records. We looked at medicines storage and administration at the service and checked in detail medicine administration records for 11 people, eight of whom were given medicines covertly.

We also looked at end of life documentation for five people including advanced care plans and ‘do not attempt resuscitation’ documentation.

As part of the inspection we observed the interactions between people and staff, and discussed people’s care needs with staff. We observed lunch being provided to people and saw how people were supported with eating.

We checked fire safety, including equipment, testing of the alarm, lighting and the regularity of fire evacuation tests, and information relating to incidents and complaints. We looked at minutes of residents’ meetings and staff team meetings. We also looked around the premises and viewed the garden.

Following the inspection we received feedback from three additional health and social care professionals and one family relative.