Archived: The Gables

People generally received the support they needed in their daily lives. We saw that staff had a good awareness of people's needs and were responsive to changes in their health and well-being. It was not clear, however, that advice from a health care professional was consistently followed by staff in relation to one person's eating and drinking. It was also not evident that two people were being supported to visit the dentist regularly.

There were some procedures in place to safeguard people from abuse. Staff were aware of their responsibilities to report any concerns about people's welfare and knew where to find information about this. Relatives we spoke with told us that they had confidence that their family member was safe in the home and they did not have any concerns about their care.

Appropriate checks were carried out on staff before they started work. We found that the provider had made improvements to their recruitment procedures which helped ensure that people who lived in the home were protected.

There were systems in place to monitor the health and safety of people who lived in the home and take action in response to any identified risks. The manager carried out regular checks on the delivery of people's care to ensure appropriate standards were maintained. At the time of our inspection, the provider was developing systems for gathering and using feedback from people who lived in the home, their relatives and staff. Although these had not been fully implemented, people told us that they felt able to speak with the manager or provider if they had any concerns.

We found that people's privacy, dignity and independence were respected, but information for people who use the service was not provided in a way that they were able to understand.

People were enabled to make and participate in making decisions and were given choices in how their care and support was given. One person told us that 'They help me to choose what clothes to wear'. Two people we spoke with said they felt safe in the home, one person told us 'I feel safe here'.

We reviewed five staff records and found that they lacked the minimum required information. This demonstrated that effective recruitment procedures were not in place.

People's views of the service were sought however we did not see that this information was collated so that it could be used to improve the service, if necessary.