• Care Home
  • Care home

Sunnydale Care Home

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

35A Severn Road, Weston Super Mare, Avon, BS23 1DP (01934) 645033

Provided and run by:
Friend4Friend Limited

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Our view of the service

About the service

The service is a care home. The service had recently increased the amount of people it can support from 5 people to 10 people. There were 7 people using the service at the time of the assessment.

Who the service is for

This service supports adults with mental health conditions. Some adults were also autistic or had a learning disability.

The service is a community transition service where people are supported to develop their skills to work towards living independently in the community.

We have assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence, and good access to local communities that most people take for granted.

Key findings

We carried out this assessment on 26 and 28 August 2026 and 01 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. Instead, our findings focus on any areas where the service needs to improve or where we found exceptional practice.

The service demonstrated a positive culture of learning, openness, and continuous improvement. The management team were supportive and approachable. Staff communicated effectively, they used handovers and team meetings to share information, reflect on practice, and support positive outcomes for people.

There were effective systems in place to safeguard people from abuse. 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. No one at the service currently required a DoLS authorisation. People were supported to have choice and control of their lives in the least restrictive way.

There were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs. There was a clear staff structure, and staff understood their roles and responsibilities. Staff received training relevant to their roles and they needs of the people they supported. Medicines were administered safely. People had support to attend health appointments and activities such as college, walks and shopping where they wanted.

People’s care plans contained personalised information and were regularly reviewed with people to ensure they reflected their needs. Risk assessments promoted positive risk taking and independence. Staff respected people's confidentiality and sought consent before providing any support.

A caring and inclusive culture was evident throughout the service. The provider’s vision was shared across the staff group. This focused on supporting people in a person centred way to build confidence, develop skills and independence. People received personalised care from a dedicated staff team who were committed to supporting them to live their life in the way they wanted and to achieve their chosen outcomes. One staff member said, “Our goal is to promote independence, for residents to flourish and live as independently and safely as they can.” A health and social care professional said of 1 person, “They have grown their independence so much with the support of staff.”

Feedback was regularly sought and used to improve the quality of care provided. Complaints were investigated. Quality assurance and governance systems were in place to monitor the quality safety and effectiveness of the service. These processes supported continuous learning and identified areas for improvement.

The environment was clean, welcoming and homely. People had personalised bedrooms, and communal areas were well maintained. Appropriate safety checks were generally completed. However, we identified 2 staff members had not taken part in a fire evacuation in the last 12 months. This was important as staff lone worked in the service during the night and may need to support people to evacuate safely in the event if a fire. These staff had completed fire training. We fed this back to the registered manager, who told us this would be actioned.

18 March 2021

During an inspection looking at part of the service

Sunnydale Care Home is a care home that provides accommodation and support for a maximum of five people. The property does not have a passenger lift so is only suitable for people who are able to use the stairs. At the time of the inspection, five people were using the service.

We found the following examples of good practice.

Safe practices were in place to support visits to the care home. Visitors booked an appointment and were greeted on arrival. Visitors were required to have their temperature checked and to confirm their current health status. They were asked to wash their hands and supported to put on the personal protective equipment (PPE) provided. This included aprons, masks and gloves. Visitors were also required to undertake a COVID lateral flow test (LFT) and wait for a negative result, before they started their visit.

All staff used the appropriate PPE in line with current government guidance. People also chose to wear face masks in communal areas. Social distancing measures were in place to protect people, for example everyone was careful not to cross on the stairs.

Staff had received training on the signs, symptoms and management of COVID-19. Training to don and doff PPE had also been completed by all staff. PPE was freely available.

There was an infection control policy and contingency plans in place that had been updated as guidance had changed. We found the home to be clean with regular cleaning taking place throughout the day.

People were supported to follow government guidance in place. People were also supported to keep in touch with relatives in ways that were meaningful to them, for example by phone and video calls.

Due to the layout of the building, it was not possible to use isolating, cohorting and zoning plans to manage the spread of infection. The registered manager told us they tried to mitigate the risks by increased cleaning of high-touch areas, having a rota for access to communal areas such as the kitchen and people staying in their rooms when necessary. People were supported by a dedicated and consistent small team of staff. In the event of an outbreak occurring, people would stay in their rooms and use call bells if they needed support.

22 April 2018

During a routine inspection

This inspection took place on 22 April 2018 and was unannounced. This was the first inspection of the service since it was registered in 2017. Sunnydale Care Home is a 'care home'. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

This service provides accommodation and support to a maximum of five people over the age of eighteen who have a mental health condition. The property does not have a passenger lift so is only suitable for people who are able to use the stairs. At the time of our inspection there were four people using the service.

The registered provider is required to have a registered manager in post and there was a registered manager at this service. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Staff were recruited safely and at this inspection, there were sufficient staff on duty to meet people's needs. Staff had received training, which allowed them to meet people’s needs, and received support through supervision from the registered manager and deputy manager. Staff had received safeguarding adult training and were aware of types of abuse. Alerts to the local authority safeguarding team were made as appropriate.

People told us they felt safe at the service. Accidents and Incidents were recorded and analysed by the manager and action taken where any health and safety issues were identified following an accident or incident.

Medicines were managed safely.

The service was clean and tidy and people had personalised bedrooms. People told us that staff were kind and caring. They had time to get to know people and treated them with respect. They worked within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act.

Care plans were detailed and person centred. They were reviewed regularly and checked by the registered manager and provider.

Social isolation was minimised because staff encouraged people to access the local community either by themselves or with support.

People were supported to maintain their health and had access to health services if needed.

People had opportunities to make comments about the service and how it could be improved. A complaints procedure was in place and people told us they knew how to raise a concern if needed.

The registered manager had good oversight of the service and there was a clear ethos of care.

Staff were led by an open and accessible management team.