Ferrars Hall Care Home provides accommodation and personal care for up to 66 older people, some of whom are living with dementia. The home is set over three floors and has various facilities available including a hair and nail bar, cinema room, coffee shop and a library.

This comprehensive inspection took place on 18 May 2017 and was unannounced. At the time of this inspection care and support was provided to 31 people. This was the first inspection since the home was registered in June 2016.

The provider is required to have a registered manager as one of their conditions of registration.

A registered manager was not in post at the time of the inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC to manage the home. 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 were kept safe and staff were knowledgeable about reporting any incident of harm. People were looked after by enough staff to support them with their individual needs. Pre-employment checks were completed on staff before they were assessed to be suitable to look after people who lived at the home. People were looked after by staff who were trained and supported to do their job.

People were helped to take their medicines by staff who were trained and had been assessed as being competent to administer medicines.

People were supported to eat and drink sufficient amounts of food and drink. They were also supported to access health care services and their individual health and nutritional needs were met.

The CQC is required by law to monitor the Mental Capacity Act 2005 [MCA 2005] and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards [DoLS] and to report on what we find. The provider was aware of what they were required to do should any person lack mental capacity. People’s mental capacity was assessed and care was provided in their best interests. Staff were trained and knowledgeable about the application of the MCA.

People were treated by kind, respectful staff who enabled them to make choices about how they wanted to live. People and their relatives were given opportunities to be involved on a day-to-day basis about their planned care.

Not all care plans contained sufficient detail to ensure that staff had full information about how they should support people. This meant that there was a risk that staff, would not being fully aware of their responsibilities.

People were supported to be part of the community and they were helped to take part in recreational activities that were important to them. There was a process in place so that people’s concerns and complaints were listened to and were acted upon.

There were clear management arrangements in place. Staff, people and their relatives were able to make suggestions and actions were taken as a result. Quality monitoring procedures were in place and action was taken where improvements were identified.