There was no registered manager in post at the time of our inspection. We met with the home’s manager who was in the process of applying to the Care Quality Commission to become registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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.

Overall, people received their medicines safely and as prescribed. However, the provider needed to ensure safe medicines management and effective record keeping was consistently followed by all staff to mitigate risks to people’s safety and welfare.

The provider’s quality monitoring systems required strengthening. This was to ensure monitoring systems were reliable in effectively mitigating risks to people from staff not following safe and best practices when managing people’s medicines and records.

On the second day of our inspection the manager had taken action to drive through the required improvements to staff practices and to ensure quality monitoring were as strong as they could be.

People were supported to stay as safe as possible by staff who understood what actions to take if they suspected a person was at risk from abuse or harm. The provider had arrangements in place to ensure people’s needs were reviewed alongside staffing levels and the deployment of staff.

People benefited from living in a home where there were systems in place to reduce the risk of infections and staff knew what action to take to care for people if they experienced any infections. The home environment was designed to a high standard with people at the heart of all the features which included the furniture and different areas for people to enjoy. Checks on the home environment were undertaken.

Staff considered people’s care needs and involved people who knew them well before people came to live at the home, so they could be sure they could meet people’s needs. Staff had received the training they required so people would be supported by staff with the skills needed to provide care and support. Further training and accreditation was consistently sought such as, staff aiming to achieve the gold standard framework in end of life care to further enhance their practices in supporting people to live until they die.

People were supported to choose what they wanted to eat and to obtain care from health and social care professionals so they would remain well. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People had developed caring relationships with the staff who provided support and showed us they liked the staff who cared for them. Staff communicated with people in the ways they preferred and encouraged them to make their own day to day decisions about their care. People received care from staff who acted to promote their dignity and independence.

People’s care had been planned by taking their individual wishes, histories and needs into account. People’s care plans incorporated advice provided by other health and social care professionals, so they would receive the care they needed in the ways they preferred. A programme of fun and interesting things to do supported people to choose what they wanted to participate in. Systems were in place to respond to any concerns or complaints and to incorporate any learning into care subsequently provided.

The provider and management team checked people received the care they wanted, so they would be assured people enjoyed a good quality of life and risks to their safety were reduced. The views of people, their relatives and staff when developing people’s care and the home further.

Further information is in the detailed