Last updated 5 September 2017
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.

The Grange is registered to provide two services; a care home and a homecare service. The care home inspection took place on 7 June 2017 and was unannounced. This meant that the provider and staff did not know we would be visiting. We carried out a further announced visit to the home on 9 June 2017 to complete the care home inspection.

We announced the homecare service inspection, which we carried out on 13 June 2017. We gave the provider notice to ensure that staff could organise visits to people's homes. Our expert by experience spoke with six people and three relatives by telephone from 12 – 14 June 2017.

The inspection team consisted of one inspector and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of service.

Prior to carrying out the inspection, we reviewed all the information we held about the service. The registered manager completed a provider information return (PIR). A PIR is a form which asks the provider to give some key information about their service, how it is addressing the five questions and what improvements they plan to make.

We contacted Northumberland local authority safeguarding and contracts and commissioning teams prior to our inspection. We also contacted Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used their feedback to inform the planning of this inspection.

Care Home

We spoke with 10 people and one relative during our inspection. We spoke with the nominated individual, the registered manager, the manager designate [manager in waiting], the deputy manager, two care workers and activities coordinator. We also spoke with two care workers on night duty to ascertain how care and support was provided at night.

We viewed four people’s care plans. We also looked at information relating to staff recruitment and training. We examined a variety of records which related to the management of the service.

Homecare

We visited four people at home and spoke with a relative during our home visits. We spoke with six people and three relatives by phone.

We spoke with the nominated individual, the registered manager, care coordinator and one care worker.

We viewed two people’s care files, four people’s daily records and medicines administration records. We examined a variety of records which related to the management of the service.