Last updated 11 December 2018
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.

This inspection took place on 23 and 24 October 2018. The first day was unannounced and the second day was announced. The inspection was carried out by two adult social care inspectors and one Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The Expert by Experience had experience in caring for older people and people living with dementia.

Before the inspection, we asked the registered provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used this information to help with the planning for this inspection and to support our judgements.

Before this inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service, which included correspondence we had received and any notifications submitted to us by the service. Statutory notifications are information the registered provider is legally required to send us about significant events that happen within the service. For example, where a person who uses the service has a serious injury.

Before our inspection we contacted staff at Healthwatch, Sheffield and they had no concerns recorded. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We also contacted members of Sheffield council contracts and commissioning service and the NHS Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group.

During the inspection we spoke with nine people who lived at the home and three of their relatives. We also carried out a Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI) to observe people's experience of life at Balmoral care home. We met with the registered manager, deputy manager and regional manager. We spoke with 21 members of staff. We spent time looking at written records, which included six people’s care records, seven medication administration records (MARs), eight staff personnel files and other records relating to the management of the service.