Last updated 5 December 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 registered persons were 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.

Before the inspection, the registered persons completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks them to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We also examined other information we held about the service. This included notifications of incidents that the registered persons had sent us since our last inspection. These are events that happened in the service that the registered persons are required to tell us about. We also invited feedback from a local authority who contributed to the cost of some of the people who lived in the service. We did this so that they could tell us their views about how well the service was meeting people’s needs and wishes.

We visited the service on 11 September 2017 and the inspection was unannounced. The inspection team consisted of an inspector, a special professional advisor and an expert by experience. The special professional advisor was a registered nurse. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using this type of service.

During the inspection visit we spoke with 10 people who lived in the service and with two relatives. We also spoke with the care coordinator, a senior member of care staff, three care staff, one of the activities coordinators and the administrator. In addition, we spoke with the registered manager and with the managing director of the company. We also observed care that was provided in communal areas and looked at the care records for nine people who lived in the service. In addition, we looked at records that related to how the service was managed including staffing, training and quality assurance.

We also used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not speak with us.

After our inspection visit we spoke by telephone with another five relatives.