The inspection took place on 30 November 2017 and was unannounced. Riverdale is a care home that provides accommodation with personal care and is registered to accommodate 40 people. This is the first inspection of the service since it registered with us in August 2016 and there were 30 people using the service at this time.

Riverdale accommodates people in one building on two floors, each of which has separate adapted facilities. The home is in Chesterfield and has a garden area to the rear of the property. There is a lower ground floor which accommodates laundry facilities and there are a number of car parking places for visitors to the service.

The service had 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.

People’s cultural backgrounds had not always been taken into account when planning their care or their meals. Where people spoke English as a second language the provider had not considered how to support effective communication and ensure they could choose how they were supported.

We found people were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. People were able to make decisions about their care and staff knew how to respond if people no longer had capacity to make some specific decisions.

People received their medicines at the right time and systems were in place to ensure medicines were managed safely. Accidents and incidents were recorded and steps taken to minimise the risk of similar events happening in the future.

There was sufficient staff to meet the assessed needs of people who used the service. Recruitment procedures were in place to check that staff were suitable to work with people. The staff were kind and treated people with dignity and respect and helped them to make choices about their care. People chose how to spend their time and there was a range of activities in the home for people to join. People continued to spend time with friends and family.

People’s care needs had been assessed and reviewed to ensure they received care to meet their individual needs. The care records detailed how people wished to be cared for and supported and evidenced where people had been involved with any review. Staff received training to meet identified needs and received on-going support to ensure they delivered the correct support.

People’s special dietary requirements were met and where concerns were identified, people’s weight was monitored. Health care was accessible for people and appointments were made for regular check-ups as needed.

People were protected from harm as the staff understood their responsibility to safeguard people and knew how to identify risks and how to raise any concern. Risk assessments ensured people could continue to enjoy activities as safely as possible and maintain their independence.

People were confident they could raise any concerns with the registered manager or staff and were complimentary about the service provided. The registered manager was approachable and provided support to the staff team. People were encouraged and supported to provide feedback on the service and there were effective systems in place to review and improve the quality of the service provided.

Quality assurance systems were in place to identify where improvements could be made. People were encouraged to contribute their views and felt listened to. The registered manager understood their responsibility around registration with us and we had received notifications when significant events had occurred within the home.