Archived: Viera Gray House

Updated 4 September 2015

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This was an unannounced inspection and took place on 23 and 24 July 2015.

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

There were 30 people living at the home, during the inspection. We spoke with eight people, three relatives, seven staff and the manager. We also spoke to service commissioners and other health care professionals such as district nurses.

Before the inspection, we considered notifications made to us by the provider, safeguarding alerts raised regarding people living at the home and information we held on our database about the service and provider.

During our visit we observed care and support provided, was shown around the home and checked records, policies and procedures. These included staff training, supervision and appraisal systems and home’s maintenance and quality assurance systems.

We looked at the personal care and support plans for ten people living at the home.

We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

Updated 4 September 2015

This was an unannounced inspection that took place on 23 and 24 July 2015.

Viera Gray House is a care home with accommodation for frail elderly individuals and people some of whom may have dementia.

The home had a registered manager. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

In June 2014, our inspection found that the home met the regulations we inspected against. At this inspection the home met the regulations.

People and their relatives thought a good service was provided, they enjoyed living at the home and there was enough staff to meet their needs. The staff team were friendly, caring, attentive and provided the care and support they needed in a way they liked. They found the home’s atmosphere was relaxed and enjoyable.

The sample of records we looked at were comprehensive and kept up to date. They contained clearly recorded, fully completed, and regularly reviewed information. This enabled staff to perform their duties well. People and their relatives were encouraged to discuss health needs with staff if they wished and they had access to community based health professionals, as required. They were protected from nutrition and hydration associated risks with balanced diets that also met their likes, dislikes and preferences. People said there was a variety of well-presented meal choices, the quality of the food was good and it was the type of food they liked.

The home was well maintained, furnished, clean and provided a safe environment for people to live and staff to work in.

There was a thorough staff recruitment process that files showed were followed. The staff were very knowledgeable about the people using the service and their likes, dislikes, wishes and needs. Staff had appropriate skills, training and were focussed on providing individualised care and support in a professional, friendly and supportive way. They said they were well supported by the management team who were approachable, open and honest. People using the service and relatives said they felt comfortable talking with the management team, who were responsive to their views and encouraged feedback from people. We saw that the home consistently monitored and assessed the quality of the service provided.