The inspection took place on the 8 and 15 May 2017 and was unannounced.

Oakdale is registered to provide accommodation with personal care for up to 27 older people, some of whom may be living with dementia related needs. There were 24 people living at the service at the time of our inspection.

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 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People, relatives, social care and health professionals and staff spoke highly of the registered manager and gave positive feedback about the service provided. The registered manager was passionate and committed to providing a well led service. They placed people living at the service at the heart of everything and empowered and enabled staff to deliver a positive person centred culture which focussed on ensuring people's life experience at the service was of the utmost importance. Staff felt valued and well trained, were clear on their responsibilities and enjoyed their work. They shared the registered manager’s philosophy to provide good quality care.

The service was extremely responsive to people’s individual needs which had a positive impact on their lives. Staff had developed positive caring relationships with people. They knew people very well and were kind and sensitive to their needs and ensured their privacy and dignity was always respected. People’s nutritional needs were met and people were supported to maintain a healthy and balanced diet. People received support to access health care professionals and services when required and health care professionals were complimentary about the service.

People who used the service felt safe and were enabled and empowered, as far as they were able, to take responsibility for their own safety within the service and when accessing the local community; risks to people’s health and wellbeing were appropriately assessed, managed and reviewed. The registered provider’s recruitment procedures were robust and ensured that only suitable staff were employed. People were supported by staff that had the skills and experience needed to provide effective care and there were enough staff to help keep people safe, meet their needs and protect them from harm and abuse. People received their medication as prescribed and there were safe systems in place for receiving, administering and disposing of medicines.

People’s capacity to consent had been assessed and the registered manager and staff demonstrated a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and encouraged and supported people to make decisions and choices. Where people lacked the capacity to make decisions, best interest decisions had been made on their behalf.

Where possible people and their families were involved in the planning and review of their care and support; care plans were very person centred and were regularly reviewed. Staff actively promoted people’s independence and encouraged people to do as much as possible for themselves. Staff shared information effectively which meant that any changes in people’s needs were responded to appropriately.

There were robust, effective systems in place to regularly assess and monitor the quality of the service provided. People living and working in the service had the opportunity to say how they felt about the home and the service it provided. Management were able to demonstrate how they measured and analysed the care and support provided to people, and how this ensured that the service was operating safely, continually improving to meet people’s needs and having a positive impact on the lives of people.