This inspection took place on 10 and 11 February 2015 and was unannounced.
Sherrington House provides accommodation and personal care for up to 47 older people who require 24 hour support and care. Some people are living with dementia. There were 44 people living in the service when we inspected.
There was 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.
Staff understood their responsibilities to ensure people were kept safe and knew who to report any concerns to.
There were procedures and processes in place to ensure the safety of the people who used the service. These included checks on the environment and risk assessments which identified how risks to people were minimised.
There were sufficient numbers of staff who were supported to meet the needs of the people who used the service. Staff were available when people needed assistance, care and support.
There were appropriate arrangements in place to ensure people’s medicines were stored and administered safety.
Staff had good relationships with the people and their representatives and they were attentive to their needs. Staff respected people’s privacy and dignity and interacted with people in a caring, respectful and professional manner.
People were supported to see, when needed, health and social care professionals to make sure they received appropriate care and treatment.
People, or their representatives, were involved in making decisions about their care and support. People’s care plans had been tailored to the individual and contained information about how they communicated and their ability to make decisions.
People’s nutritional needs were being met. Where issues were identified, for example, where a person was losing too much weight, appropriate referrals were made to other professionals. The service took action to ensure that people’s dietary needs were identified and met.
People knew how to make a complaint if they were not happy with the service they were provided with. People’s concerns and complaints were listened to, acted on and used to improve the service.
Staff understood their roles and responsibilities in providing safe and good quality care to the people who used the service. The service had a quality assurance system and shortfalls addressed. As a result, it would lead to continued improvements in the quality of the service being provided.