During an assessment under our new approach
Our view of the service
About the service
Meteor Rest Home is a residential service providing personal care without nursing for up to 15 people. At the time of inspection 15 people were using the service. The service is based in the local community, set over 2 floors with access to a large garden.
Who the service is for
The service supports older people and people living with dementia.
Key findings
We carried out this assessment from the 19 August until the 7 September 2026. This service was previously rated as good. We carried out this assessment to confirm whether the rating of good remains accurate. This report does not provide detailed information on areas where we found practice continues to meet a good standard.
People told us they enjoyed living at the service and felt it was a safe place to live. One person said, “I have lived here for 5 years and have always been looked after very well.”
People were supported by enough staff who had the skills and knowledge to support them safely. Staff received training appropriate to their role which was regularly updated. One member of staff said, “We have face to face training with a trainer who comes in to us.” Staff told us they had recently had practical training in fire evacuation procedures and had practiced how to use fire extinguishers. Staff told us they enjoyed these interactive sessions and felt they had great value in enhancing the skills they needed in an event of a fire.
People received their medicines as prescribed and where needed medicines were regularly reviewed by the GP practice, frailty nurse and local pharmacy. Staff told us they had their competency checked to support people with medicines safely. The registered manager completed audits of medicines to ensure their systems were working effectively.
People were safeguarded from the risk of abuse by staff who understood their responsibilities to report concerns. One member of staff told us, “We make sure people are safeguarded from anything harmful or neglect. If we have any concerns, we inform the manager and if they do not act, we can go externally to the council or CQC.” Records we saw showed the registered manager reported safeguarding concerns to the local authority safeguarding team and worked with them to ensure people were safe. Lessons learned from safeguarding concerns were shared with staff and if changes needed to be made to manage risks this was embedded into practice.
Care was person centred and assessments of people’s needs were completed before they started using the service. Care plans we reviewed contained good descriptions of how people wished to be supported, their preferences and were individually tailored to meet each person’s needs. Risks were assessed and mitigated to keep people safe. People and relatives told us they had an opportunity to visit the service before they made any decision about living there.
Staff had systems in place to monitor people’s health needs. The service had regular reviews from their GP practice and liaised with the district nursing service. The registered manager told us people were supported to attend specialist appointments to monitor their health concerns. People’s diet and nutrition was monitored and if needed referrals were made to specialist services such as speech and language therapist. People were complimentary of the food one person said, “The food is lovely, I go to the dining room to eat then come back and relax.”
There was a consistent staff team at the service, and we observed there were enough staff to support people. One person said, “The staff here are so good, we can have a laugh and a chat together over a cup of tea.” A relative told us, “All the staff are so caring.” Staff told us they felt they had a good team and had time to spend with people, talking and enjoying activities.
Staff had regular meetings to discuss people’s care needs and the running of the service with the registered manager. One member of staff said, “We have meetings every month, we discuss any changes and anything relating to changes in law, or we discuss new admissions and updates on care.” Staff were supported with regular supervision sessions to discuss their performance, training needs or support they may require.
People can only be deprived of their liberty to receive care and treatment with appropriate legal authority. In care homes, this can be done through a procedure called the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), which is part of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). We checked whether the service was working within the principles of the MCA and how they managed DoLS within the service.
We found that staff and management worked within the MCA. DoLS authorisations were appropriately applied for and overseen. People were not subject to unlawful or excessive restrictions they had choice, control and freedom over their lives. Staff understood the principles of DoLS and actively worked to keep people safe whilst supporting them to make day to day decisions and choices over their care. Where people did have DoLS applied the registered manager worked with advocates to ensure peoples voices continued to be heard. Feedback from one advocate said, ‘The registered manager is always proactive, escalates resident concerns quickly, and consistently demonstrates a very professional approach.’
The environment was clean and maintained. The provider had updated their fire panel and monitoring systems at the service in line with their recent fire risk assessment. Any remedial work needed had also been completed. There was a redecoration program underway with communal areas and individual rooms being repainted. Monitoring systems such as for legionella were up to date and certificates were held for environmental checks. The registered manager completed audits of the environment and acted where needed.
The registered manager promoted equality in experience and outcome for people. The registered manager had systems in place to measure and monitor outcomes for people, including gaining feedback from surveys. Relatives told us communication was very good with the service. People told us they generally did not have any complaints but if they did, they felt confident to raise these with staff.
The registered manager had systems in place to keep a good oversight of the service. This included the electronic monitoring they had in place on care notes and audits of the service. Staff shared the registered manager vision to provide positive outcomes for people. One member of staff said, “The main vision is keeping everybody safe, making sure we provide effective care. Caring for individuals and ensuring their needs are met.”