This inspection took place on 22 July 2015 and was unannounced. The inspection was carried out by one inspector. We last inspected this home on 8 July 2013. There were no breaches of legal requirements at that inspection.

Karenza care home provides care and accommodation for up to eight people under the age of 65 and specialises in the care of people who may have dementia.

There was a 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.

People told us that they felt safe in the home and families told us they felt confident that their relatives were cared for by people who knew how to keep them safe. Staff were able to tell us how they kept people safe, identified any risks to people and what actions they had taken to keep them safe.

People living at the home, their relatives and staff alike, all felt there were enough staff in place to keep them safe and meet their needs. The registered manager had recently changed her hours of working and the provider had made arrangements for management cover to accommodate this.

Medication was stored and secured appropriately and audits had identified some errors which had been rectified. Where people were prescribed medication that had to be administered, ‘as and when required’ there was little information available to advise staff as to in what circumstances the medication should be given which could result in this medication being administered inconsistently.

People and their families spoke warmly of the staff group and the care and support they received. They felt the staff group were well trained to do their job and knew them well enough to meet their all of their needs.

Staff obtained consent from people before they provided care and support. The registered manager and staff all had an understanding of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and what this meant for people living in the home.

People were supported to eat and drink enough to keep them healthy and were supported to make their own drinks and meals where appropriate. People were supported to access a variety of healthcare professionals to ensure their healthcare needs were met and were assisted to see their GP as and when required.

People living at the home told us that staff were caring and kind and knew them well. People were supported to maintain their independence where possible.

Staff were aware of the activities people enjoyed and what was of interest to them. People were supported to take part in activities both in the home and in the community. Activities were planned on a weekly basis and people were encouraged to tell staff what they would like to do and efforts were made to accommodate these requests.

People told us that they had no concerns or complaints about the home but knew how to complain and who to. They were confident that if they did complain, they would be listened to and their concerns acted upon.

People living at the home, their relatives and staff all thought that the home was well led. Visitors to the home felt welcomed and included.

Staff enjoyed their work and felt supported and listened to. They spoke positively about the provider and the registered manager and understood the vision the provider had for the home.

Regular meetings took place with people living at the home. Their views were sought and taken on board. The provider had introduced a number of quality audits in order to monitor care provided and where accidents or incidents had taken place, lessons were learnt.

There were 8 people living at the home on the day of our inspection. Due to their health conditions or complex needs not all people were able to share their views about the care that they received. We observed their experiences to support our inspection.

We spoke with two people who lived there, two relatives, four staff and a visiting professional. One person said, “I like living here the staff help me and take me out.” One relative spoken with said, “This place stands for everything that is good about dementia care for younger people.”

People were involved in decisions about their care and were asked for their consent before care was given. Where people did not have full mental capacity to consent, care was provided in their best interests.

We looked at the records for four people. Staff had information to support people with their needs in the way they preferred. People were involved in a variety of interesting activities. One person said, “I go to the temple and the shops. We go on holiday every year.”

People were offered food, drinks and snacks that they liked and were supported and encouraged to eat and drink sufficiently to prevent their ill health.

All staff had received training including caring for people with dementia so that they had the knowledge to support the people safely in the way that they chose.

Robust audit systems were in place for monitoring and improving the quality of the service for people living in the home.

There were eight people living at the home when we visited and they had varied levels of need. Some of the people were independent with their personal care needs while others needed some support from staff. We spoke two people at the home and two relatives who were visiting at the time of our inspection. One person said ''I like it here'' and a relative said “They have got some wonderful staff”.

We saw that people were involved in making choices about what they wanted to do and what they ate and drank. We saw one person being supported by staff to go to the gym and then visit their family.

The home assessed, planned and delivered care that met people's individual needs. There were appropriate risk assessments in place to maintain the safety of people.

Staff knew how to support people to meet their needs when needed, referred people to other health professionals. Staff followed advice from other professionals to ensure people's health and well being.

People told us they were happy living at the home and felt safe. One person said "I like it here, I feel safe here".

Staff knew how to safeguard people from harm and felt confident that if they had to report any abuse, action would be taken to protect people.

There were systems in place to make sure that any risks to people's safety and welfare could be identified and improvements could be made. People’s views were being sought and where concerns had been raised action had been taken to make improvements.