During the course of the visit we spoke individually with the registered manager, six members of the staff team and four relatives of people living at the home. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a specific way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. A period of time was also spent briefly talking with people living at the home in two separate lounge areas. However the conversation was somewhat limited because of mental incapacity. People spoke positively of the level of care and support provided by staff. One relative told us, 'They are very good with him (Husband) they deal with him very well. The care residents' get is very good. It is not the environment that counts but the care and the care is there.' Another relative told us, 'Care wise, especially with the type of client they have, they do very well." This same person went on to describe ways that staff used distraction techniques to diffuse situations and also commented that, 'There is a lot of different places for people to move around here and that helps.'
When asked, one person living at the home said he felt safe living there and liked the staff. We observed that people appeared comfortable in their surroundings and engaged well with staff. The relatives spoken with all stated that they had no concerns about the care and support provided by the staff team and felt they that people were safe living at the home.
The registered manager told us that monies were held in safekeeping in respect of a small number of people living at the home. However the registered manager also told us that written records of financial transactions undertaken on behalf of an individual were not kept. Potentially this does not protect people from financial exploitation.
Relatives told us improvements that were being made to the physical environment at the home were welcomed.
Staff spoke positively about the training provided. One person said, 'When I came here I had no qualifications. Now I have National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) 2, dementia awareness training, training about epilepsy and a health and social care apprenticeship level 3.' Another person said, 'I have no worries about training, you can approach Carole (registered manager) about anything, I would like to do more into the dementia side.'
Relatives told us that they were kept fully informed, invited to review meetings and relative meetings and encouraged to voice their opinions and suggestions for improvement.
The registered manager told us that no written records were kept with regard to service users monies held in safe keeping. Potentially this does not protect people from financial exploitation.