Portobello Place

Portobello Place is a purpose-built residential care home providing personal and nursing care for to up to 61 people across 3 separate adapted floors. At the time of our inspection there were 44 people living at the service.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Staff at Portobello Place focused on providing person-centred care and support and achieved exceptional results. Staff took time to understand people’s individual needs and used that to improve their care and outcomes. We saw many examples of how people’s quality of life and wellbeing had significantly improved.

People told us they felt safe living at Portobello Place. Staff knew how to identify and report any concerns. The provider continued to recruit staff and had safe recruitment and selection processes in place.

Risks to people's safety and well-being were managed through a risk management process. There were sufficient staff deployed to meet people's needs. Medicines were managed safely, and people received their medicines as prescribed.

People and relatives told us staff were caring. Staff did all they could to promote people’s independence and we saw examples of this. People received personalised care, tailored to their individual needs and preferences, and staff supported people and their relatives to be involved with decisions relating to their care. People's privacy and dignity was upheld through the approaches taken by staff as well as in relation to the care environment, as people had access to their own bedrooms with ensuite bathroom facilities.

People had a pleasant well-presented dining experience which offered a variety of appetising food choices available at times that suited people’s preferences. The menu was overseen, and food prepared by an enthusiastic catering team who always looked at creative ways of continuously improving people’s dining experience. People’s feedback on food had been used to improve the dining experience. Staff supported people to maintain food and fluid intake, including, providing snacks, and making people hot drinks during the night to help them relax and maintain their comfort.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives 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. Staff had a particularly good understanding of when the principles of the Mental Capacity Act should be applied. People were supported to meet their nutritional needs and complimented the food at the home.

The home was well-led by a registered manager who was committed to improving people’s quality of life. They and the provider put people at the centre of all they did and had plans to continuously improve people's care. There was a clear management structure in place and staff worked well as a team. The provider had clear oversight of the service and effective quality assurance systems in place that they used to monitor the quality and safety of the service. Staff worked well with external social and health care professionals.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 18 December 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.