This inspection took place on 12 and 13 September 2016 and was unannounced. St Christopher’s Care Home is a care home without nursing that provides accommodation with personal care for up to 25 older people. At the time of our inspection there were 16 people living in the home.

The service had a registered manager as required. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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 registered manager and the provider were present and assisted us during this inspection. They worked closely together to ensure people received appropriate care and the service was operating well.

St Christopher’s Care Home is part of Ascot Residential Homes and is run by the same registered manager as another sister home on the same grounds. The registered manager and the provider spent equal time at each service. They expected the same outcomes for both services promoting positive attitudes and a high standard of practice.

The registered manager and staff had an excellent understanding and motivation to meet people’s social and care needs. They were constantly finding creative and innovative ways to ensure people lived their lives to the full. People were able to engage in a wide range of meaningful activities and maintain links with the community regularly. This helped them avoid becoming isolated. People really enjoyed keeping busy because it made them feel as if they were at home. People could also spend time with their visitors or by themselves if they wished so. Their choices were always respected by attentive and understanding staff. It was paramount to the service to ensure people's wellbeing was respected and protected. All interactions observed between staff and people living at the service were provided with the greatest respect and friendliness. People and relatives confirmed staff always respected their privacy and dignity. People benefitted greatly from living at a service that had a very open and welcoming culture.

People and relatives told us great things about the service they received. They also felt the staff would ensure people received really good care when supporting them. The registered manager and provider spoke with a great passion about the care and support they provided to the people and their families. It was clear this was also disseminated well to the staff team. Staff were greatly motivated to provide care with much kindness and consideration. People and their families really felt they mattered to the staff team and the registered manager. They always had opportunities to share and discuss their views which were taken into account and actioned. The registered manager and the provider worked in a proactive way. This included managing people’s health and care needs and encouraging people, relatives and staff to report any issues to them so they could address concerns immediately.

People told us they felt safe living at the home. Staff understood well their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents or allegations of abuse. They felt confident any concerns would be addressed appropriately. Risk assessments were carried out to ensure people's safety. Staff recognised and responded to changes in risks to people who use the service. People received effective personal care and support from staff who knew them well and were trained and supervised. There were contingency plans in place to respond to emergencies. End of life care was provided with great care and compassion. People and their families were always supported with utmost consideration and understanding to ensure decisions and preferences were taken into account.

People's rights to make their own decisions, where possible, were protected and staff were aware of their responsibilities to e

People were involved in making choices about their care. People we spoke with told us staff treated them with respect and supported them to make their own choices. Staff had knowledge and understanding about people’s choices and the right to refuse their care and support. We found people's privacy, dignity and independence were respected.

People who use the service were protected from abuse because their staff had appropriate knowledge and training on safeguarding vulnerable adults. People and their families we spoke to told us they felt safe and would report any concerns to staff.

The provider had a robust recruitment process in place to make sure that people who use the service were not placed at risk of being cared for by inappropriate staff.

The provider had a policy for storing, archiving and destroying records. All records relevant to the management of the service were stored securely in a locked cupboard or the office and were easily accessible to staff.

During our visit we saw that people were being treated with dignity and respect and people’s independence was encouraged.

People we spoke to and visiting relatives told us that they were happy with the care provided. One visitor said, “the staff are excellent” and another visitor told us that the staff provided exceptional care and they felt very welcomed into the home. One person told us that the staff did things at their pace and were very patient.

We saw that people experienced safe and effective care based on detailed care plans. There were risk assessments that met individual needs and provided guidance to staff to minimise potential risks. We saw that good nutritional care was provided in a way that met people’s needs and preferences.

People were protected from abuse as they were supported by a staff team who had appropriate knowledge and training on safeguarding adults. People we spoke to told us that if they had any concerns they would up would speak up about it.

Staff we spoke to and records we reviewed, demonstrated that staff were trained and competent to carry out their roles. They felt very supported by their manager and the organisation and were very happy to work at the care home.

The provider had effective systems in place to monitor and assess the quality of the service. The provider regularly collected the views of families, people who used the service and other practitioners and they were very positive about the service.

The people who use this service prefer to be referred to as residents. This preference is respected within this report.

Residents we spoke with told us they were involved in making decisions about their care. They felt the staff always respected their privacy and dignity and that they were supported to remain as independent as possible.

Residents told us that they felt their needs were being met and that their care was delivered in the way they preferred. They felt safe living at the home, felt the staff were available when they needed them and that staff had the skills they needed when providing their care and treatment.

Residents told us they felt their opinions were listened to and taken into account by the management and staff.

Visitors we spoke with were happy with the care their relatives received at the home. One visitor commented: "We are very happy with everything at St Christopher's, our relative is well cared for and is happy and settled living here" and another told us: "We are absolutely delighted with the level of care".

One resident told us that they had been worried about moving into a care home but, now that they had, they felt it was the best thing they could have done. They told us that the staff were very kind and that there was always something to do.