4 and 5 November 2015
During a routine inspection
The inspection was completed on 4 and 5 November 2015 and there were 13 people living in the service when we inspected.
Norman House provides accommodation, personal care and nursing care for up to 20 older people. In addition some people were living with dementia.
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.
Risks to people’s health and wellbeing were appropriately assessed, managed and reviewed. Support plans were sufficiently detailed and provided an accurate description of people’s care and support needs. People were supported to maintain good healthcare and had access to a range of healthcare services. The management of medicines within the service ensured people’s safety.
Staff had a good understanding and knowledge of safeguarding procedures and were clear about the actions they would take to protect the people they supported.
There were sufficient numbers of staff available to meet people’s needs. Appropriate recruitment checks were in place which helped to protect people and ensure staff were suitable to work at the service. Staff told us that they felt well supported in their role and received regular supervision and an annual appraisal of their overall performance.
Appropriate assessments had been carried out where people living at the service were not able to make decisions for themselves and to help ensure their rights were protected.
People were supported to be able to eat and drink satisfactory amounts to meet their nutritional needs and the mealtime experience for people was positive.
People were treated with kindness and respected by staff. Staff understood people’s needs and provided care and support accordingly. Staff had a good relationship with the people they supported.
An effective system was in place to respond to complaints and concerns. The provider’s quality assurance arrangements were appropriate to ensure that where improvements to the quality of the service were identified, these were addressed.