The inspection took place on 29 November 2016.

Bankwood Care Home provides personal and nursing care for up to 40 people. It is situated in the residential area of Duffield and the accommodation is arranged over four floors. There is a passenger lift to provide access to each floor. At the time of our inspection there were 38 people using the service.

There was a registered manager at the service. 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.

People felt safe at the service. Staff had a good understanding of how to recognise the signs of abuse and knew how to report it.

Risks relating to people's care were assessed and reviewed each month. Staff were familiar with risks associated with people‘s care but records did not always show that control measures that had been put in place to minimise risks to people had been carried out.

People could be assured that safe recruitment practices were followed. There were sufficient staff to meet people's needs. Staff received training and supervision to support them to carry out their role.

The service followed the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). The recording of consent and best interest decisions meant the service complied with the MCA Codes of Practice.

People enjoyed their food and were provide with a varied and balanced diet. People's health needs were met and they had access to external professionals as required.

Staff were kind and caring and understood people's needs. People were involved in decisions about their care. People's privacy and dignity was respected.

There were scheduled group activities that took place. The activities coordinator spent time getting to know people and arranged for activities and events specific to their interests to take place.

Complaints were investigated and responded to. There were monthly meetings held with people at the service to encourage them to provide feedback about the service.

Systems were in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service. Quality assurance questionnaires were sent out to people and their relatives. Audits in relation to the service and the care they provided were carried out and issues identified were acted upon.

People and their relatives spoke highly of the registered manager. Staff commented on how dedicated the registered manager was to her role and people at the service. Staff told us they enjoyed their roles and found the management approachable. Staff all shared the same vision for the service.

At the time of the inspection there were 39 people living at Bankwood Care Home. We spoke to thirteen people, the seven care staff and two nurses on duty and the manager. We also spoke with three relatives, a district nurse and a community psychiatric nurse. This is a summary of what we found.

Is the service safe?

People told us that they felt safe. Safeguarding procedures were robust and staff understood how to safeguard the people they supported.

We spoke with staff about Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). This applies to all care homes. The manager told us that there had been no applications and showed us the policy and procedures they followed. They told us that staff had received relevant training and had access to the policy and procedures. Staff told us that they had received this training.

One person told us, “I am happy here. Everyone is very helpful. I can say the staff are very nice. I feel safe here”.

We saw that the service was safe, clean and hygienic. The home had an effective infection control system. Equipment was well maintained and serviced regularly, so preventing any unnecessary risks. Staff told us how they worked to prevent infection and told us how they would manage an outbreak at the home.

Is the service effective?

Comments from people included, “I like it here. The staff are so good. When I first came here I couldn’t do some things for myself. I can now do things again for myself, the staff have really helped”.

People explained how their care and welfare needs were met. People told us that they had support with health appointments and felt that the service was flexible. One person told us, “If I am not feeling well the staff will call a doctor”.

Is the service caring?

We saw that staff communicated well with people and were able to explain things in a way that could be easily understood. We saw that they did not rush people in the home. Relatives we spoke with said they felt the care was very good. One relative told us, “I have only excellent things to say about the home”.

People were treated with respect and dignity by the staff. We saw that people were given choice in their care and all the relatives we spoke to told us they were very happy with the care.

One relative told us, “My dad is really content here. Everyone is so helpful”.

Is the service responsive?

The home had appointed two activities co-ordinators after people had requested more activities. People told us that they now have a range of activities, often helping them become involved in their community. They told us that they had been on trips and out to the local park. We saw the activities co-ordinator on the day of our inspection lead a therapy session with 10 people. A relative we spoke to at the session told us this helped her father with his social skills and his memory.

People we spoke with told us they were involved in decisions about their care.

We saw that there was a complaints policy at the home. People told us they found the manager very approachable and would not hesitate to raise any issues or complain.

Peoples care needs had been reviewed at least every six months. We saw that when people's requirements had changed the provider had responded and reviewed their care needs.

People’s preferences, interests, aspirations and diverse needs had been recorded and care and support had been provided in accordance with people’s wishes.

Is the service well-led?

We found that there was an effective system to regularly assess the quality of service that people received. We found that the views and opinions of people using the service and their carers, family and relatives were also regularly recorded.

People, their relatives, friends and other professionals involved with the service had completed an annual satisfaction survey.

We saw the home had systems in place to make sure that managers and staff learnt from any accidents, complaints, whistleblowing or investigations. This reduces the risks to people and helped the service to continually improve.

Staff told us they were clear about their roles and responsibilities. Staff had a good understanding of the ethos of the home and quality assurance processes were in place. This helped to ensure that people received a good quality care service at all times.

As part of this inspection we spoke with six people who used the service and two relatives. We also spoke with eight members of staff including the registered manager.

People we spoke with were very happy with the care provided. Comments included “It couldn’t be any better”, “Excellent”, “I am very pleased with the food” and “it’s a very happy sort of place”. One relative we spoke with described it as a “lovely care home” and that “staff are really good”.

We saw that appropriate checks had been made to ensure that the premises were safe. A person who used the service told us “they have improved the building quite a lot. It’s very nice”.

Staff we spoke with told us that they felt supported. We found that the majority of staff were up to date with mandatory training. One person who used the service told us “staff are very helpful and nice, they will do anything for you”.

The provider had a complaints system in place. There had been no formal complaints since our previous inspection. There were regular meetings with people who used the service and their relatives to gain feedback on the service provided.

We saw that accurate and appropriate records were maintained. We found that some records of care provided were kept where all people could have access to them. The provider assured us that these would be moved to ensure that all records were kept securely.

We spoke to eight people living in the home. They spoke positively about the staff team respecting their privacy and maintaining their dignity. People said that they were encouraged to be independent and that they had choice in their day to day lives. One

person said "I do what I want when I want". We found that people were receiving the care and treatment that they needed and that they enjoyed a good social life at the home.

The staff working at the home were recruited safely. The staff spoke positively about working at the home and were clear about the standards that were expected of them.

We found that the provider had systems in place to assess and monitor the standards at the home and action plans showed that they address items that came to their attention. Meetings had been held with the people who lived at the home and their relatives and they were asked for their opinion on the services they received.