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.

Inspection team: Two adult social care inspectors and an expert by experience conducted the inspection. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. This person had experience of caring for an older relative living with dementia.

Service and service type: Stilecroft Residential home is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. This service did not provide nursing care.

The service had a manager who had applied to be registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means when they are registered, both 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: We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection and completed our planning tool. This included the 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 checked the action plan the provider sent to us to address the shortfalls identified after the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service.

During the inspection, we spoke with 21 people who used the service and six relatives to ask about their experience of the care provided. We also spent time observing how people spent their time and how staff interacted with them.

We spoke with seven members of care staff, the manager, operations manager, the shift supervisor, activity coordinator, cook, domestics and maintenance staff. We reviewed a range of records that included; five people's care records and medication records; six staff files; and records related to the management of the home. In addition, we spoke with four visiting healthcare professionals during the inspection.

As part of the inspection process we walked around the building to carry out a visual check. We did this to ensure the home was clean, hygienic and a safe place for people to live. We asked the manager and operations manager to forward the service development plan to show the improvement to the building and in developing a dementia strategy so that we could monitor progress. This was sent into us shortly after the inspection.