This inspection was undertaken on 2 October 2012 by one compliance inspector.Dene House was last visited by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in December 2007.
During this inspection we spoke with three of the five people who currently live at Dene House. They told us they were very happy with the care and support they received at the service. People that we spoke with confirmed that staff always treated them with respect. They told us that staff looked after them well and respected their privacy.
The people we spoke with all told us that they were supported to make their own decisions and were able to make choices about how they spent their time. People told us that staff asked them whether they agreed to any care or assistance they provided and explained to them what they were going to do. However, there was no record of people giving consent before treatment or care was provided. We did not see that people were involved in the completion or review of their care plans.
Our observations showed that staff interacted well with the people in the home. They spoke to people in a respectful manner, using their preferred names, and responded to people's requests and listened to what they had to say.
We looked at four people's files which included care plans that identified a person's needs and the action plan to be followed in order to meet the identified needs. Some of this information gave good directions to staff about how the person's personal care needs were to be met. However, some information was missing.
When we asked people if they felt safe at the home one person said 'yes, we're looked after completely, we're spoiled".
On the day of our inspection the home was clean, tidy and comfortable. However, we did have some concerns about some aspects of cleanliness at the service. D'cor in the home is looking tired and would benefit from redecoration. The manager, who is also the owner [Provider] of the service told us that areas of the building are redecorated when needed but it was 'a bit like painting the Forth road bridge'.
Staff and people living at the home told us that they felt there were enough staff on duty at all times.
We asked people about the ability of the staff to provide the care and support they needed. Their responses included 'The staff are all excellent' and 'they are all caring and friendly'.
We looked at training records relating to all members of staff who were employed at the service. The records showed that all staff required training updates.
We were told that people living at Dene House were regularly consulted about the quality of care provided at the home. However, we saw no evidence to confirm this. One member of staff told us that people living at the service, staff and the manager met at morning coffee and afternoon tea times and discussed any requests they may have or any suggestions they may have for improving their quality of life at Dene House.
You can see our judgements on the front page of this report.