The inspection took place on 6 October 2016 and was unannounced.

Seaview House Nursing Home provides accommodation and personal care for up to 20 people with mental health needs. As a nursing home, the service is also registered to provide the regulated activities ‘treatment of disease, disorder or injury’ and ‘diagnostic and screening services’. At the time of our inspection there were 18 people using the service.

At the time of our inspection there was no registered manager in post at the service. 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 day-to-day running of the service was carried out by a management team consisting of the director, who is also a qualified Registered Mental Health Nurse, supported by an administrator and a nurse in charge of each shift. The director has liaised with CQC’s registration department and plans are in place to submit an application to register a manager.

People were safe because the management team and staff understood their responsibilities to recognise abuse and. keep people safe. People received safe care that met their assessed needs and staff knew how to manage risk effectively.

There were sufficient staff who had been recruited safely and who had the correct skills and knowledge to provide care and support in ways that people preferred.

The provider had clear systems in place to manage medicines and people were supported to take their prescribed medicines safely.

People’s health needs were managed effectively with input from relevant health professionals and people had sufficient food and drink that met their individual needs.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) monitors the operation of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) which apply to care homes. We found the provider was following the MCA code of practice.

The management team supported staff to provide care that was centred on the person and staff understood their responsibility to treat people as individuals.

People were treated with kindness and respect by staff who understood their needs and preferences. Staff respected people’s choices and took their preferences into account when providing support. People were encouraged to enjoy pastimes and interests of their choice and access the local community so that they were not socially isolated.

Staff had good relationships with people who used the service and understood their needs. People’s privacy and dignity was respected.

There was an open culture and the management team supported staff to provide care that met people’s needs.

The provider had systems in place to check the quality of the service and take the views of people into account to make improvements to the service. There were systems in place for people to raise concerns and there were opportunities available for people to give their feedback about the service.

The management team, including nursing staff, were visible and actively involved in supporting people and staff. Staff were positive about their roles and their views were valued by the management team.

We spoke with three people who used the service who told us that they were happy with the service. One person said, "This place has been really good to me and the care and staff are brilliant."

People told us they were consulted about their care and treatment and we observed that staff ensured people had a choice: for example, during our inspection, a staff member arranged a shopping trip and involved people in preparing what they wanted and where they wanted to go.

During the course of our inspection we saw that people were supported to express their views and choices by whatever means they were able. Staff clearly understood each person's behaviours and their individual ways of communicating their needs

We looked at care plans and records of four people who used the service and found people experienced care, treatment and support that met their needs and protected their rights.

Staff records seen showed that staff were appropriately qualified with an appropriate mixture of skills. We saw staff rosters that demonstrated staffing levels met the needs which supported people who used the service.

We saw that people lived in a bright, clean and maintained environment. The provider had recently completed refurbishment decoration.

We used a number of different methods to help us understand the experiences of people using the service because people using the service had complex needs which meant that some people were not able to tell us their experiences. During our inspection we spoke generally with people using the service and observed how they interacted with staff and others and how they spent their day.

We saw that people were self-assured in their discussions with the management team and confidently made their needs and wishes known to staff.