Brandon Park Residential and Nursing Home is a residential care home with nursing that provides accommodation and personal care for up to 55 older people, some of whom are living with dementia. There were 44 people living in the service when we inspected on 1 October 2018. This was an unannounced comprehensive inspection. Brandon Park 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.

We previously inspected this service in July 2017 and rated it Outstanding overall. Since that date the provider changed their company name from Stowlangtoft Healthcare LLP to Stow Healthcare Group Limited. This resulted in a new registration for the provider and the ‘archiving’ of the previous rating of Outstanding given. Despite this, the home continues to be managed by the same team running the provider company and the same provider team that achieved the Outstanding rating in July 2017. There was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection, this was a change as during July 2017 this person had been the deputy manager at the home. A registered manager is a person who has registered with 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.

The registered manager was an extremely strong and knowledgeable manager who was also highly visible across the home. The registered manager was approachable and enabled and empowered staff to deliver high quality care. The registered manager had excellent knowledge of the home and the people living there in order to ensure that people had their preferences met. People and their relatives spoke positively about the registered manager and their strong leadership style and their trust and faith in her. Staff displayed they delivered exceptional care, compassion and empathy that showed people mattered. The provider had excellent quality assurance processes in place, which helped to drive improvements. People who lived at the home, relatives and staff told us the service was exceptionally well led.

People received exceptionally personalised care and support which they were in control of. Activities were planned by activity staff who worked very closely with people to establish their individual preferences. There was an exceptionally strong family ethos within the home of treating people as individuals and with respect. People were at the forefront of their care and were supported by staff who were extremely kind and caring.

The care people received at the end of their lives was excellent. Staff were passionate about providing the best, most compassionate and respectful end of life care to people and demonstrated that all people who lived and died at the home mattered and were important

People were assisted as required by suitable numbers of staff who were trained and supported in their job roles. Staff members had been safely recruited and had received an induction to the home.

Staff knew about people's dietary needs and preferences. People told us there was a choice of meals and said the food was good. There were plenty of drinks and snacks available for people in between meals.

Staff had received training in order to meet the needs of people using the service. They had also received regular supervision and an appraisal of their work performance. The registered manager and staff demonstrated a clear understanding of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.

Medicines were stored and administered safely, and people received their medicines as prescribed. Audits were carried out of medicines to ensure they were managed in line with good practice guidelines. Infection c