This inspection took place on 5 January 2017 and was unannounced.

Florence House provides support to older people and to older people living with dementia. The service accommodates a maximum of 36 people. On the day of our visit, 35 people lived in the home.

The home has 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 2008 and associated Regulations 2014 about how the service is run.

There were enough staff on duty to meet people's needs. Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to work well with people who lived at the home. This was due to an effective induction and on-going staff training.

Staff understood safeguarding policies and procedures, and followed people’s individual risk assessments to ensure they minimised any identified risks to people’s health and social care. Checks were carried out prior to staff starting work at Florence House to ensure their suitability to work with people in the home.

Medicines were managed well to ensure people received their prescribed medicines at the right time. Systems were in place to ensure medicines were ordered on time and stored safely in the home.

Staff respected and acted upon people’s decisions. Where people did not have capacity to make informed decisions, ‘best interest’ decisions were taken on the person’s behalf. This meant the service was adhering to the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

The registered manager met the requirements of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). The provider had referred people to the local authority for an assessment when they thought the person’s freedom was restricted and when they had been assessed as not having capacity to consent to this.

People were provided with sufficient to eat and drink and people’s individual nutrition needs were well supported. People enjoyed the food provided. Where changes in people’s health were identified, they were referred promptly to other healthcare professionals.

There were two activity workers who supported people with a range of group and individual activities. The service supported people who lived with dementia well.

People and visitors to the home were positive about the care provided by staff. During our visit we saw staff being caring to people, and supported people’s privacy and dignity.

People who lived at Florence House, their relatives, and staff, felt able to speak with management and share their views about the service. No written complaints had been received, although 12 written compliments had.

The premises and equipment people used was safe and well-maintained.

The registered manager was passionate and committed to ensuring people who lived at the home received good care and support. She was well respected by her staff team. Both people and staff felt able to go to her with any concerns or issues.

This was the first inspection of this service since registration with us.

During the inspection we spoke with people who used the service who told us that they were happy with the care provided. One person we spoke with told us, "Its beautiful here they take care of you". Another person we spoke with told us, “I've found the service to be impeccable".

We observed people being cared for in a respectful and compassionate way. People told us that staff respected their individual choices. One person told us, "We are offered the opportunity to take part in activities but they respect our rights to choose not to".

The provider had recruitment systems in place but not all of the checks required to ensure that staff were suitable to provide support to vulnerable people were within the records we looked at or had been obtained. Potentially placing people at risk of harm.

People told us that staff were caring and understood their needs. Staff told us that they received an induction and felt supported by their manager. We saw that training needs for staff were identified and systems were in place to ensure staff received regular meetings, supervision and appraisal of their performance.

People we spoke with told us they had no complaints about the care they received. The manager was able evidence that any complaints were taken seriously and investigated within agreed timescales. This meant that complaints management arrangements were satisfactory.