We inspected Bromson Hill Care Home on 1 December 2016. The inspection visit was unannounced. Bromson Hill is divided into two separate floors and provides personal and nursing care for up to 32 older people, including people living with dementia. There were 26 people living at the home when we inspected the service.

A requirement of the service’s registration is that they have a registered manager. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. There was not a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection visit. The previous registered manager had left the service several months before our inspection; a new manager had been appointed and had been in post for eight weeks. They intended to apply for registration as soon as their probation period had ended. We refer to the newly appointed manager as the manager in the body of this report.

People received medicines as prescribed to maintain their health and wellbeing. People were supported to access healthcare from a range of professionals inside and outside the home and received support with their nutritional needs. This assisted them to maintain their health.

People were protected against the risk of abuse as the provider took appropriate steps to recruit staff of good character, and staff knew how to protect people from harm. Safeguarding concerns were investigated and responded to in a timely way to ensure people were supported safely.

There were enough trained and supervised staff to care for people effectively and safely, and meet people's individual needs.

People were supported to access healthcare from a range of professionals inside and outside the home and received support with their nutritional needs. This assisted them to maintain their health.

The provider, manager and staff understood their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) to ensure people were looked after in a way that did not inappropriately restrict their freedom. The manager had made applications to the local authority where people’s freedom was restricted, in accordance with DoLS and the MCA requirements. Decisions were made in people’s ‘best interests’ where they could not make decisions for themselves.

Staff knew people well and could describe people’s care and support needs. Staff treated people with respect and dignity, and supported people to maintain their privacy and independence.

Care staff treated people with respect and dignity, and supported people to maintain their privacy and independence. People made choices about who visited them at the home. This helped people maintain personal relationships with family and friends who were important to them.

Care records were up to date and provided staff with the information they needed to support people responsively. People were supported to take part in social activities and pursue their interests and hobbies.

People knew how to make a complaint if they needed to. Complaints received were investigated and analysed so that the provider could learn from them. People who used the service and their relatives were given the opportunity to share their views about how the service was run.

Quality assurance procedures were in place to identify where the service needed to make changes; where issues or improvements were identified the manager took action to continuously improve the service.

We inspected Bromson Hill Care Home on 1 December 2015. The inspection visit was unannounced.

Bromson Hill is divided into two separate floors and provides personal and nursing care for up to 32 older people, including people living with dementia. There were 28 people living at the home when we inspected the service.

A requirement of the service’s registration is that they have a registered manager. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. There was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection. We refer to the registered manager as the manager in the body of this report.

A full record of each person's individual care and support needs was not maintained. People's care records did not reflect the care and support they received from staff on a daily basis. However, permanent staff knew people well and could describe people’s care and support needs. Improvements were being made to the checking of care records to ensure they were kept up to date in the future.

People received medicines to maintain their health and wellbeing. The latest guidance on the administration of certain medicines needed improvement to ensure people received their medicines safely. People were supported to access healthcare from a range of professionals inside and outside the home and received support with their nutritional needs. This assisted them to maintain their health.

People were protected against the risk of abuse as the provider took appropriate steps to recruit staff of good character, and staff knew how to protect people from harm. Safeguarding concerns were investigated and responded to in a timely way to ensure people were supported safely. There were enough staff to care for people effectively and safely, and meet people's individual needs.

The manager understood their responsibility to comply with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. Decisions were made in people’s ‘best interests’ where they could not make decisions for themselves.

Care staff treated people with respect and dignity, and supported people to maintain their privacy and independence. People made choices about who visited them at the home. This helped people maintain personal relationships with people that were important to them.

People knew how to make a complaint if they needed to. Complaints received were fully investigated and analysed so that the provider could learn from them. People who used the service and their relatives were given the opportunity to share their views about how the service was run. Quality assurance procedures identified where the service needed to make improvements, and where issues had been identified the manager took action to continuously improve the service.