Archived: Amersham Park House Limited

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.

The service was calm, relaxed and had a homely atmosphere. The environment was clean and well maintained. We observed that staff were kind, caring and knew people very well.

Risks relating to people’s support needs were identified and strategies were in place to mitigate those risks. Staff knew what to do if they had concerns about abuse. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs safely and recruitment procedures were robust. Staff were well supported through training, regular supervision and annual appraisal.

Staff supported people to maintain good health through facilitating access to healthcare professionals when required. People were supported and encouraged to take part in activities outside of the service. The service paid for people to go on holiday or to have days out with family instead of a holiday if that is what people wanted.

The registered manager responded to feedback about the service and kept relatives involved and informed. The registered manager had systems in place to regularly check the quality of the service and the environment to ensure that people had high quality care that met their needs.

People who used the service told us that they felt safe at the home and were well looked after. One person we spoke with said, 'It's ok here.'

We found that people were cared for by staff who were supported to deliver care and treatment safely and to an appropriate standard.

We found that people had their comments and complaints listened to and acted on, without the fear that they would be discriminated against for making a complaint. People told us that they always felt comfortable in raising concerns and knew they would be resolved. One relative said 'we haven't made any complaints but I know I can go to them at any time and complain. I know they would sort it out.'

People express their views and were involved in making decisions about their care and treatment. The provider told us that they contributed to professionals meetings, advocated on people's behalf where future plans for care was discussed and agreed with people that use the service.

There was enough qualified and experienced staff to meet people's needs. We were told by the manager that three of the four members of staff currently have National vocational qualifications (NVQ), in health and social care at level three and four.

The provider told us that they had recently sent out questionnaires to seek the views from family members and organisations that supported people that used their service. We were shown one questionnaire that reported, clients were happy because the staff had a good understanding of the needs of the people that used the service.