This inspection took place on 5 and 6 July 2018 and was unannounced. This was the service’s first inspection under the current registered provider, Lilian Faithfull Homes. We rated the service as ‘Good’ overall.

Resthaven Nursing Home (known as Resthaven) 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.

Resthaven can accommodate 42 people in one adapted building. It predominantly cares for older people. At the time of the inspection 33 people lived there and required support with their physical needs whilst some also lived with dementia. People lived on two floors, each floor having single occupancy bedrooms with washing facilities, lounge and dining areas, communal bathrooms and toilets. Outside there was an enclosed garden as well as an open front garden with ample car parking. Attached to the home was a small chapel which people and visitors could use.

The service is required to have a registered manager and one was 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.

The provider had identified areas that required improvement when they took over the home in March 2017and had since made significant improvements to the service.

There were many positive comments from people and relatives about how caring and kind the staff were and we observed many kind and caring interactions from the staff. The provider had forwarded specific examples of where staffs’ patience and kindness had improved people’s quality of life and wellbeing.

Personal care was delivered in private but staff sometimes forgot to respect people’s private spaces, for example, we observed staff entering people’s bedrooms without first knocking on the door and being invited in. Although the provider subsequently told us staff were trained to do this we have recommended that the training around this be reviewed so that practice can alter.

People’s preferences and their likes were explored with them and met. People’s diverse preferences were included in people’s care plans for staff information and to help staff meet these.

People had opportunities to take part in social activities which they enjoyed. On one of the days of this inspection the weather was unusually hot and this had an impact on what we observed in relation to activities on that day. People were sleepy and this had an impact on their ability to be engaged. On the second day of the inspection we observed people to be more involved and enjoying themselves. The registered manager told us this was far more representative of the activities at Resthaven. We were given examples of how support with meaningful activities had improved people’s self-worth, their confidence and quality of life. On-going improvements were being made to further support people’s overall wellbeing.

People were supported to take their medicines and medicines were stored securely; records were well maintained. During the warm weather staff had found it difficult to meet the medicine manufactures’ recommendations in relation to the temperatures medicines should be stored at. Action was being taken in response to this and the provider told us they planned to take further action to address this.

The provider continued to keep staffing levels and the deployment of staff under review. There were enough staff to keep people safe. Where needed agency staff were used to support this and successful staff recruitment had seen this usage reduced. Robust recruitment procedures were followed and helped to protect people from those who may not be suitab