Bishopsfield Court is registered for, and provides, personal care for people living in their own homes in an extra care housing scheme. There were 45 people being supported with the regulated activity of personal care at the time of this inspection.

This announced inspection took place on 20 January 2017. This is the first ratings inspection at this location since Hales Group Limited became the registered provider on 06 June 2016.

The service had a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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.

Arrangements were in place to make sure that people, where needed, were supported safely with the management of their prescribed medicines by staff. Guidance for staff on how, why and when to administer ‘as required’ medicines was in place as a prompt.

People were supported by staff in a kind, caring and respectful manner. People’s privacy and dignity was respected by staff when entering their flat and assisting them with their personal care.

People had support and care plans in situ which provided staff with prompts that they needed when providing support and care to people. These plans contained information such as how people wished to be assisted, their likes and dislikes and what was important to them. People and/or their relatives were involved in the setting up, agreement and review of their/ their family member’s plans of care. However, sometimes the reviews of people’s care plans to make sure they were up-to-date and met people’s current needs were not always carried out in a timely manner.

Plans were put in place to minimise and manage people’s identified risks and to assist people to live as independent life as possible and remain in their own homes.

Staff meetings took place and staff were encouraged to raise any concerns or suggestions that they may have had and provide feedback on any improvements to be made. Staff understood their responsibility to report any suspicions of harm or poor care practice.

Pre-employment recruitment checks were undertaken before new staff were employed. This was to make sure that they were suitable to work with the people they were supporting. However, not all of these pre-employment checks undertaken, were carried out in a robust manner.

Documented evidence showed that there was a sufficient number of staff available to support people with the care that they required.

People were assisted to maintain their health and well-being and were supported to access external health care professionals where needed. Where this support was required, people’s health and nutritional needs were met.

Staff were trained to provide effective care which met people’s individual support and care needs.

Staff were supported by the registered manager to develop their skills and knowledge through supervisions, spot checks, and observation checks to review their competency and training.

The registered manager told us that no one using the service lacked the capacity to make day-to-day or important decisions. The majority of staff received training and staff understood the basic principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). This meant that there was a reduced risk that any decisions made on people's behalf by some staff would not be in their best interest and as least restrictive as possible.

The registered manager sought feedback about the quality of the service. They had in place quality monitoring checks to identify areas of improvement needed. These checks and corresponding actions were in place to identify and drive forward improvements required.

There was an ‘open’ culture within the service. People and their relatives were able to raise any concerns that they might have w