OSJCT Beckside is registered to provide accommodation, personal and nursing care for 58 older people. There were 53 people living in the service at the time of our inspection. The accommodation is a purpose built, single storey property. It is divided into six self-contained units or ‘households’ each of which has its own communal facilities and bedrooms. The households are called Maple, Holly and Willow in each of which nine people who need personal care can live. Another household is called Elm where 10 people who need personal care can live. The remaining households are called Chestnut and Beech each of which is reserved for 10 people who require personal and nursing care.

The service was run by a company that was the registered provider. At this inspection the company was represented by one of their area operations managers. There was a registered manager in post. 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 about both the company (as represented by the area operations manager) and the registered manager we refer to them as being, ‘the registered persons’.

A small number of the people who were accommodated in the service lived with dementia. However, the registration of the service did not include this group of people. We raised this matter with the registered persons who said that they would immediately apply to us to correct the service’s registration.

At the last inspection on 19 November 2014 the service was rated Good.

At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

This inspection was unannounced and was carried out on 5 and 6 June 2017.

Nursing and care staff knew how to keep people safe from the risk of abuse. Although people had been helped to avoid most preventable accidents additional steps needed to be taken to keep people safe when using the gardens. Medicines were safely managed and there were enough staff on duty. Most of the necessary background checks had been completed before new nursing and care staff had been appointed.

Although some care staff had not received all of the training the registered persons said they needed, they knew how to care for people in the right way. People enjoyed their meals and were helped to eat and drink enough. They had also been supported to obtain all of the healthcare assistance they needed.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and nursing and care staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. Policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People were treated with compassion and respect. Nursing and care staff recognised people’s right to privacy and promoted their dignity. People had access to lay advocates and confidential information was kept private.

People had been given all of the nursing and personal care they needed and they had been supported to pursue their hobbies and interests. There was a system for quickly and fairly resolving complaints.

People had been consulted about the development of their home and quality checks had been completed to ensure that people received safe nursing and personal care. Nursing and care staff were supported to speak out if they had any concerns and good team work was promoted. People had benefited from nursing and care staff acting upon good practice guidance.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

he inspection took place on 19 November 2014 and was unannounced.

OSJCT Beckside is registered to provide accommodation for nursing or personal care for up 58 older people. There were 57 people living at the service on the day of our inspection. Several people were supported to live with long term physical conditions such as breathing and mobility difficulties.

There was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have the legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The Care Quality Commission is required by law to monitor how a provider applies the Mental Capacity Act, 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and to report on what we find. DoLS are in place to protect people where they do not have capacity to make decisions and where it is considered necessary to restrict their freedom in some way. This is usually to protect themselves. At the time of the inspection no people had had their freedom restricted.

People who lived at OSJCT Beckside were safe and were cared for by kind and caring staff.

Staff knew what action to take and who to report to if they were concerned about the safety and welfare of the people in their care.

People were supported by designated activity coordinators to maintain their hobbies and interests. People were supported to maintain interests outside of the service.

We found that people were given a choice of nutritious and well presented meals. People were offered hot and cold drinks and snacks between meals, but there were some shortfalls in meeting some people’s nutritional needs.

People received their prescribed medicine safely from staff that had the skills to do so.

Staff were aware of people’s choices and preferences. Staff had the skills to undertake risk assessments to provide for people’s personal, physical, social and psychological care needs.

People had their healthcare needs identified and were able to access healthcare professionals such as their GP or district nurse. Staff knew how to access specialist professional help when needed.

Staff had access to professional development, annual appraisal and feedback on their performance.

There were systems in place to support people and their relatives to make comments about the service or raise concerns about the care they received. People and their families told us that the registered manager and staff were approachable.

People told us staff treated them with dignity and respect. One poison told us, “Staff are marvellous and respectful”.

We spoke with relatives who told us they were confident in the staff. One person’s relative said, “The staff have the skills, they have helped me learn how to communicate with him. I’m happy with his care”.

The care staff we spoke with told us it was important to respect people and treat them as individuals. We saw people’s bedrooms were personalised with photographs and ornaments from home.

We saw the activities programme for the week. People were offered a wide range of activities including movement to music, bingo and a choice of church services

People told us the home was always clean. One person said, “It always very clean”. We found the home to be clean.

People told us they were involved in the home. One person said, “They have residents meetings”. Another person said, “I’m invited to meetings. I can feedback to the nurse. It’s good”.

As part of our inspection we spoke with several people who use the service. They all spoke positively about the care, support and accommodation they received.

They told us they liked living in the home and confirmed they are supported to make choices and decisions about the care they received and they felt safe.

We spoke with a person who had recently moved into the home they told us, “I was worried about coming into care but it’s very good, all the staff are very helpful and caring.”

Another person said, “The food is very good, I have no complaints, everything is ok.”

One person described their keyworker as, “She’s one in a million and just wonderful I have never met a person like her.”

During the visit we spoke with relatives who said they were very happy and satisfied with the care provided. One relative said, “Communication is good, I feel included, the manager is very approachable.”

On the day of our inspection we found the home was calm and relaxed. People looked well cared for and their needs were met in a person centred, sensitive and caring manner.

During our visit we observed activities being provided by staff and volunteers in the morning and in the afternoon an outside entertainer visited.