15 January 2020
During a routine inspection
Flowerdown House is a hotel which offers short breaks to serving or ex Royal Airforce personnel and their families. The service provides accommodation for up to eight people with care needs in specific bedrooms. During our inspection there were no people receiving care staying at the service. However, on the second day of our inspection the registered manager arranged for regular guests to visit the hotel to speak with us. The property is a large detached house on the sea front.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The person and their relative that we spoke with were full of praise for the staff and their experience of staying at the hotel. People told us, “They are wonderful, they will do anything for us. I have a real holiday here.” Staff we spoke with demonstrated commitment to ensuring people had the best holiday they could, in a way they wished. Both staff and people using the service described it as, ‘a family.’
People felt well-cared for at the service. Staff described how important it was to support people to be as independent as possible. Staff told us about supporting people with their choices and how important it was to get to know people. All the staff we spoke with told us they enjoyed getting to know people and spending time with them. Staff told us they had as much time as needed to support people.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
People were cared for safely at the service, the environment was well-maintained and equipment was serviced regularly. Staff assessed any risk to people and took steps to minimise these. There was a range of equipment such as ceiling hoists and electric mobility scooters available to assist people. The premises were clean and fresh with a range of level-access communal areas.
The provider had systems in place to enable people to access healthcare support whilst on holiday. Staff made sure people had enough to eat and drink and people told us they always had choice. Where people had been unhappy about the food the registered manager had made changes based on their feedback.
People’s care and support was based around their needs and preferences. Staff told us they always made sure they knew how and when people liked their support. In order to make sure staff could give everybody the time they needed they balanced people’s holiday bookings so there wasn’t several people with high needs at the same time.
The service was well-managed. Staff were very positive about working at the service; some staff had been there many years. The registered manager had systems in place to monitor the quality of the service. Where they had identified shortfalls in quality, action had been taken.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was good (published 07 June 2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.