Last updated 21 December 2016
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 28 September 2016 and 3 October 2016 and the first day was unannounced. The inspection team consisted of two inspectors and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is someone who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. On this occasion the expert by experience had experience in supporting older people.

Before the inspection, the provider completed 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 reviewed the information in the PIR, along with other information that we held about the service including previous inspection reports and notifications. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. We contacted the local authority commissioning team and the local Healthwatch board to see if they had any information on the service which may have been useful for our inspection.

We spoke with eight people, four family members, the registered manager, a team leader, two senior carers, four care staff, two activities coordinators, a domestic staff member, a laundry staff member and the chef. We observed the way people were supported in communal areas and looked at records relating to the service, including five care records, six staff recruitment files, daily record notes, medication administration records (MARs), maintenance records, audits on health and safety, accidents and incidents, policies and procedures and quality assurance records.