What life is like for people using this service:

• The service met characteristics of Good in all areas.

• People, relatives and other stakeholders told us the quality of care and support had significantly improved over the past 12 months since the new provider had taken over the running of the service.

• The service employed and rostered safe levels of staff on duty. The service planned to recruit more nursing staff at night to reduce the use of agency staff and improve continuity of care. We saw this plan was underway.

• The service had safe systems around safeguarding and risk assessment and implemented the least restrictive principle to promote people’s safety and rights.

• People and relatives told us staff were kind and caring. They could express their views about the service and provide feedback.

• Staff received appropriate training and support to enable them to perform their roles effectively.

• People's care was personalised to their individual needs. There was sufficient detail in people's care documentation that enabled staff to provide responsive care.

• The service provided a variety of activities in line with people’s interests and encouraged people’s involvement. People, relatives and social care professionals told us staff engagement and interaction had a positive effect upon people’s quality of life.

• The environment was comfortable and was adapted to meet people’s needs.

• Management and staff demonstrated a good understanding of and response to people’s diverse needs.

• The service had processes in place to measure, document, improve and evaluate the quality of care.

• More information is in the full report.

Rating at last inspection:

The service was registered by CQC with a new provider on 29th December 2017. This was the first inspection visit to the service under the new provider.

About the service:

Queens Court is a care home with nursing is a residential care home that provides personal and nursing care for up to 60 people. At the time of the inspection 48 people were using the service. The property is comprised of three floors and the new provider had made changes to the type of care being delivered on each floor. A new dementia suite was developed on the second floor in August 2018, the first floor is specific to people requiring nursing care, and the ground floor is dedicated to residential care.

Why we inspected:

This inspection was part of our scheduled plan of visiting services to check the safety and quality of care people received.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor the service to ensure that people receive safe, compassionate, high quality care. Further inspections will be planned for future dates.