This inspection took place on 22 November 2017 and was unannounced.

This was the first comprehensive inspection carried out at Masson House.

Masson House 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. The care home accommodates up to 17 people in one adapted building. On the day of our visit, there were 13 people using the service.

The service had 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The registered manager told us that they had recently implemented various new initiatives in relation to care planning, infection control and staffing. However, these needed time to become embedded in staff practice to demonstrate how effective they were at driving improvement at the service.

People were kept safe at the service. Staff had received training to enable them to recognise signs and symptoms of abuse and felt confident in how to report them. People had risk assessments in place to enable them to be as independent as they could be in a safe manner. The premises were appropriately maintained to support people to stay safe. Effective recruitment processes were in place and followed by the service and there were enough staff to meet people’s needs. People received their medicines safely and as prescribed.

Systems were in place to ensure the premises was kept clean and hygienic so that people were protected by the prevention and control of infection. There were arrangements in place for the service to make sure that action was taken and lessons learned when things went wrong, to improve safety across the service

People’s needs and choices were assessed and their care provided in line with best practice and met their diverse needs. There were sufficient numbers of staff, with the correct skill mix to support people with their care. Staff received an induction process when they first commenced work at the service and in addition also received on-going training to ensure they were able to provide care based on current practice when supporting people.

People received enough to eat and drink and staff gave support when required. People were supported by staff to use and access a wide variety of other services and social care professionals. The staff had a good knowledge of other services available to people and we saw these had been involved with supporting people using the service. People were supported to access health appointments when required, including opticians and doctors, to make sure they received continuing healthcare to meet their needs.

People’s diverse needs were met by the adaptation, design and decoration of premises and they were involved in decisions about the environment. Staff demonstrated their understanding of the Mental Capacity Act, 2005 (MCA) and they gained people's consent before providing personal care.

People developed positive relationships with the staff who were caring and treated people with respect, kindness and courtesy. The culture was open and honest and focused on each person as an individual. People were encouraged to make decisions about how their care was provided staff had a good understanding of people's needs and preferences.

People were listened to, their views were acknowledged and acted upon and care and support was delivered in the way that people chose and preferred. Care plans were person centred and reflected how people’s needs were to be met. Records showed that people and their relatives were involved in the care planning process and the on-going reviews of their care