St Vincent’s is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The home provides support for retired daughters from the Community of St Vincent de Paul and sisters from other religious communities. The home is situated in Southport town centre. The accommodation is single bedrooms with many of them having en-suite facilities. The home also has its own chapel. The home can accommodate up to eleven people. There were ten people accommodated at the time of the inspection.

This was an unannounced inspection which took place on 7 January 2019. At our last inspection we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

We have, however, rated the ‘Responsive’ domain in the report as ‘Outstanding’, an improvement from our last inspection, and have provided additional evidence to support this rating.

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.

What was particularly noticeable about St Vincent’s was the sense of ‘family’ atmosphere in the way people interacted with each other and the freedom that people had within a shared culture and philosophy. The home had a very strong culture based around daily religious activity and strong attachments to the local catholic church community. This was supported by staff working in the home.

We were given excellent feedback from the people we spoke with who were living at St Vincent’s. They told us they enjoyed living at the home and their quality of life was considerably enhanced by the sense of community involvement and how they were included in all aspects of their care and running of the home.

People said they were well cared for. People were listened to. People had the support they needed to express their needs and wishes. People could make decisions and choices. We found examples where people had improved their quality of life since they had been living at St Vincent’s and had been able to access the local community where as previously they had lacked confidence and had been anxious.

The assessment and planning of people’s care was highly individualised. We found care records that supported people were always completed and reviewed with the person’s input and included a very high level of detail regarding peoples wishes and choices. This was particularly the case with wishes around people’s end of life care where documentation and care planning had been further enhanced for our last inspection.

A visitor told us, “As soon as you come through the front door you can feel the love. The way staff cared for [person] who was dying was quite wonderful!” This was reinforced by a visiting professional who told us, “Staff always put it the extra effort to care for people. They are like a family.”

The home was well staffed and we found staff communicated and supported people with dignity and respect. Staff could explain each person’s care needs and how they communicated these needs. People living at St Vincent’s told us that staff had the skills and approach needed to ensure people were receiving the right care.

We saw there were systems in place to monitor medication so that people received their medicines safely.

St Vincent's is a care home providing personal care, accommodation and support for retired daughters from the Community of St Vincent de Paul and sisters from other religious communities. The home is situated in Southport town centre. It has four floors served by a passenger lift and chairlifts on the stairs. The accommodation is single bedrooms with a number of them having en-suite facilities. The home also has a chapel and jacuzzi room. The home can accommodate up to eleven residents.

This was an unannounced inspection which took place on 21 September 2016. The service was last inspected in January 2014 and at that time was found to be meeting standards.

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.

We were given very positive feedback from the people we spoke with who were living at St Vincent’s. They told us they enjoyed living at the home and they were well cared for.

We reviewed the way people’s medication was managed. We saw there were systems in place to monitor medication so that people received their medicines safely.

There were enough staff on duty to help ensure people’s care needs were consistently met. We looked at how staff were recruited and the processes to ensure staff were suitable to work with vulnerable people. We found recruitment to be well managed and thorough.

The manager was able to evidence a series of quality assurance processes and audits carried out internally and externally by staff and from visiting senior managers for the provider. These were effective in managing the home and were based on getting feedback from the people living there.

Care was organised so any risks were assessed and plans put in place to maximise people’s independence whilst help ensure people’s safety.

The staff we spoke with described how they would recognise abuse and the action they would take to ensure actual or potential harm was reported. Training records confirmed staff had undertaken safeguarding training and this was on-going. All of the staff we spoke with were clear about the need to report any concerns they had.

Arrangements were in place for checking the environment to ensure it was safe. For example, health and safety audits were completed where obvious hazards were identified. We found the environment safe and well maintained.

Staff sought consent from people before providing support. When people were unable to consent, the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 were followed, in that an assessment of the person’s mental capacity was made and decisions made in the person’s best interest.

The managers had made an appropriate referral to the local authority applying for authorisations to support a person who may be deprived of their liberty under the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). DoLS is part of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and aims to ensure people in care homes and hospitals are looked after in a way that does not inappropriately restrict their freedom unless it is in their best interests. We found the application was completed and was continuing to be monitored by the manager.

Activities were organised in the home and these were appreciated by the people living at the home. The home had a very strong culture based around daily religious activity and strong attachments to the local catholic church community. This was supported by staff working in the home.

We saw written care plans were formulated and reviewed on-going. We saw that people were involved in the care planning and regular reviews were held.

We observed staff interacting with the people they supported. We saw how staff communicated and supported people. Staff were able to

As part of our inspection we spoke with eight people who lived at the home. We invited them to share with us their experience of the care and support provided at St Vincent’s.

The home had recently been refurbished throughout with some building alterations being completed, new bathrooms and kitchen fitted and a new lift. The people we spoke with were pleased with the new decoration scheme within the home.

People were positive about the staff team and the care they received. They told us they could make choices about how they spent their day. One person said, “I like to go shopping if the weather is good.”

Throughout the day we observed staff engaging with people in a kindly manner and involving them in decisions about activity related to their care needs. One person said, “The staff are most kind and will do anything for us.”

The home had a dog called Boris, who was part of everyday life at the home and brought great pleasure to all who lived there.

The home had effective policies, procedures and systems in place to manage medicines and the administration of them.

The home managed staffing levels appropriately and there were suitable arrangements in place to deal with foreseeable emergencies.

Staff told us they felt well supported by their management and peers.

The manager told us that the home had not received any complaints within the last 12 months.

On the day of our visit to St Vincent’s, which was unannounced, there were 12 people living there. We spoke with five people who told us that they liked living at the home and felt comfortable there. They also said the staff treated them well and respected what they said and how they felt. We observed staff having a positive rapport with the people living at the home and there was genuine support and warmth.

The people we spoke with told us that they had no complaints about the service and that they had a good quality of life at the home. They said that the manager always made time to respond to any discussions and staff were very caring and supportive. There is a weekly meeting were any issues are discussed and they are involved or updated on topics as necessary.

They said the standard of care was consistent. This showed the home was responsive to people's care needs.

One person who lived at the home told us "Everything is excellent about the home, I can go to my own care worker to ask for what I want and I have every confidence in the girls". Another person told us "The food is very good here".

The home has a dog called Boris, he has his own character which brought joy to the home.