This was an unannounced inspection carried out on 3 January 2017.

Nutten Stoven Residential Home can provide accommodation and personal care for 30 older people. There were 19 people living in the service at the time of our inspection.

The service was operated by a partnership who was the registered provider. 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. In this report when we speak both about the partnership and the registered manager we refer to them as being, ‘the registered persons’.

Staff knew how to respond to any concerns that might arise so that people were kept safe from abuse including the risk of financial mistreatment. People had been helped to avoid the risk of accidents and medicines were safely managed. There were enough staff on duty and background checks had been completed before new staff were appointed.

Staff had received training and guidance and they knew how to care for people in the right way. People had been assisted to eat and drink enough and had been supported to receive all of the healthcare assistance they needed.

The registered manager had ensured that people’s rights were respected by helping them to make decisions for themselves. The Care Quality Commission is required by law to monitor how registered persons apply the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and to report on what we find. These safeguards protect people when they are not able to make decisions for themselves and it is necessary to deprive them of their liberty in order to keep them safe. In relation to this, the registered persons had taken the necessary steps to ensure that people only received lawful care that respected their rights.

People were treated with kindness and compassion. Staff recognised people’s right to privacy, promoted their dignity and respected confidential information.

People had been consulted about the care they wanted to receive and they had been given all of the assistance they needed. Staff promoted positive outcomes for people who lived with dementia. People had been helped to pursue their hobbies and interests and there was a system for quickly and fairly resolving complaints.

People had been consulted about the development of the service and quality checks had been completed. The service was run in an open and inclusive way and good team work was promoted. Staff were supported to speak out if they had any concerns and people had benefited from staff acting upon good practice guidance.

Nutten Stoven Residential Home provides accommodation for up to 30 people who need support with their personal care. The service provides care for older people and people who are living with dementia. The accommodation is arranged over two floors and there is a passenger lift to assist people to get to the upper floor.

There were 27 people living in the service at the time of our inspection.

This was an unannounced inspection carried out on 26 November 2014. 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.

We last inspected Nutten Stoven Residential Home in January 2014. At that inspection we found the service was meeting all the essential standards that we assessed.

People felt safe in the service and that they received all of the care they needed. They had received a wide range of personal care such as help with washing and dressing, using the bathroom and moving about safely.

People who lived in the service and their families had been included in planning and agreeing to the care provided. People had an individual care plan that described the assistance they needed and how they wanted this to be provided.

Staff knew the people they were supporting and the choices they had made about their care and their lives. People were supported to maintain their independence and to exercise control over their lives.

People were treated with kindness, compassion and respect. Staff took time to speak with the people they were supporting. People enjoyed talking to the staff and were relaxed in their company. Staff knew how to support people who lived with dementia.

Medicines were safely managed.

People were provided with a range of meals that they enjoyed.

Staff offered people the opportunity to pursue their interests and hobbies.

There were 23 people living at Nutten Stoven on the day of our visit. We spoke with three people who lived at the home and a relative who was visiting.

We saw there was a warm caring relationship between care workers and people living at the home. Care workers knew people’s preferred name and how they liked to receive care. People we spoke with told us they were happy with the care they received. One person said, “They look after me very well.”

People we spoke with told us the home was always kept clean. One person said, “The staff keep my room clean.” Another person said, “They keep it beautifully clean.” We walked around the home and saw that everything was neat and tidy.

People we spoke with told us there were enough staff available to meet their needs. One person told us, “There is always someone here to help you, you just raise your voice a little bit and they come and see you. I’ve never known them to let me down.”

We saw there were enough staff available to meet people’s needs. The manager had arranged for extra staff to be available at busy times of the day. Staff received training to support them in their role. Appraisals and supervisions were completed to identify issues with staff performance and future training needs.

We saw there was a folder in each person's room which included a welcome pack, the homes policies and the minutes of the latest residents’ meeting. This meant people were fully informed on how the home was run.

When we visited the home we found people were being well cared for by a team of well trained staff. We spoke with five people who were living in the home and they gave us positive feedback.

One person told us, “I have nothing to complain about, everybody is lovely. We do exercises and I like to spend my time knitting.”

Another person said, “The breakfast is first class. They look after me and my wife really well. They are pretty good people.”

We spoke with two relatives who were visiting the home. One told us, “I have no complaints, I would give it five stars.” Another relative said, “I’m very happy with the care my mother receives.”

We also spoke with a person who was staying on a respite break. They said, “The care staff are very kind to me, they always explain what they are going to do. The food is quite nice, I have no complaints.”

People told us the care “exceeds all expectations” and that they were “very happy here”. We spoke with the relatives of three people who told us they were happy with the care and support their relatives received and felt it was a safe place to live. Specific comments were; “I am involved in mother’s care planning and staff call me if there is a problem”, and “I’m involved in care planning and feel mum is a different person, very happy”.

We spoke with three staff and they all had a good knowledge about the needs of people we asked them about. They told us how they involved families and social workers when the person concerned could not speak for themselves. They said they used this information to plan people’s care so they could make sure it was delivered in the way the person preferred.

People told us, “staff are wonderful”, but some felt that there was not enough staff on duty to do the job. One person said they sometimes had to wait for staff to attend to their needs.

Staff commented that they felt there were times when they were short staffed and they did not have much time to sit and talk to people unless carrying out a specific care task. One member of the care staff said she often chatted to people during her break period.

People told us they enjoyed the meals provided and said that they were offered alternative choices if they did not want anything on the planned menu. They said, “the food is very good”, and, “the food is excellent, there is always a choice, sometimes of three dishes, it’s all very good”.