About the service: Belvidere Court is a nursing home that provides accommodation and personal care and support to a maximum of 68 people. The service provides care and support for older people living with dementia and younger people with varying mental health needs. At the time of our inspection 54 people were living at the service.

People’s experience of using this service:

People felt safe living at the service and staff understood how to protect people from the risk of harm or abuse. People’s care and health needs were assessed and known by staff. People were supported by sufficient numbers of skilled and knowledgeable staff. People received their medicines as prescribed.

People enjoyed the meals and drinks on offer throughout the day and had access to healthcare professionals when required. Staff sought people’s consent before providing care and people said staff were kind and caring in their approach. People were supported to be as independent as possible and said they felt listened to and their views and opinions respected. Care records were personalised and reflective of a person’s needs.

People were supported to take part in a range of activities and hobbies. People were supported to maintain relationships that were important to them and visitors were welcomed at the service. People and their relatives knew how to make a complaint and were confident that action would be taken.

People, their relatives and staff said the service was well led and the management team open and approachable. The service had a culture of continually improving the quality of care people received and robust care planning and quality assurance systems were in place.

Rating at last inspection:

Rated Requires Improvement overall (Report published 10 April 2017)

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection. We found the service met the characteristics of Good in all areas.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme; if any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.

This inspection took place on 9 and 17 February 2017. The first day was unannounced, and the second day was announced.

Belvidere Court Nursing Home is registered to provide accommodation and personal care and support to a maximum of 68 people. The home has 3 units, Kingfisher, Nightingale and Lark. The service provides care and support for older people living with dementia, and also younger people with varying mental health needs. There were 46 people living at the home on the day of our inspection. This was the first inspection since the new proprietors took over the service in April 2016.

A registered manager was in post and was present during our inspection. 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.

People had not been fully involved in developing and reviewing their care plans, and risk assessments, including how they wanted to receive their care and support. However, the registered manager had recognised this. They were implementing a new system for ensuring care plans were individual to each person. People were not always able to join in pastimes in the home, or supported to maintain their personal interests.

The registered manager had not submitted notifications about incidents within the service as they were required to do.

People were supported by staff who were provided with training to know how to support people. However, in some areas of the home, staff did not have time to sit and chat with people.

Staff felt supported by the management team. They were confident that they could approach the registered manager or the provider and be listened to. Safe recruitment practices were in place and staff had appropriate checks prior to starting work to ensure they were suitable to work with people who used the service.

People told us they felt safe living in the home. Staff were able to explain the actions they would take to keep people safe from harm. Staff told us that they were confident that any concerns about people would be addressed by the registered manager.

Staff sought people's consent to care and protected their rights under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). Where people were being deprived of their liberty, the registered manager and provider was making appropriate applications. Staff supported people to have enough to eat and drink, and to have a balanced diet. People's day-to-day health needs were met, and staff supported them to access healthcare services.

People and their relatives knew how to complain about the service, and felt confident their concerns would be appropriately handled. The provider communicated with people and their relatives. Staff found the management team approachable

The registered manager had begun to implement new systems to assess, identify and improve the quality of service people received.