We looked at care records. We saw these had been reviewed so they were accurate and up to date. We saw the support plans about each person's care were detailed. We saw the support plans were regularly evaluated so they showed people's current well-being and whether there had been any changes.
We saw people had lots of opportunities to go out to activities they enjoyed. We saw care staff supported each person with their specific individual needs while respecting their dignity and choices.
We found there were sufficient staff available to meet people's needs. We saw the provider was improving the way that essential staff training was recorded and managed.
We saw the provider checked the quality of the service, and asked people and their relatives for their views. We found that some care records had not been reviewed for over one year so were not up to date.
With prior agreement we contacted the relatives of two of the service users at Hylton Bank by telephone to obtain their views on the service. One relative told us that overall they rated the service highly. They thought that the care home had a good staffing team and they were able to manage the service user's behavioural needs. They were frequent visitors to the home and they felt it was always clean and tidy.
The other relative said they found the service to be very good. They told us staff were willing to deal with problems as they occurred and communication was good, there were regular meetings with service users and their relatives and representatives. We were told that in particular they felt that there were a lot more activities for their relative to do this last year than ever before. There had been a lot of day trips to the Lake District, York and Edinburgh.
Both relatives we spoke with expressed a wish that the garden could be cultivated further so that the service users could gain more benefit from it. One relative thought that the car park took up too much space.