Sheridan House is registered to provide accommodation for people who require personal care. The service provides care and support for 25 people. The inspection took place on 4 and 5 January 2017 and was unannounced. There were 24 people living at the home at the time of the inspection.

The service was last inspected in July 2013 when it was judged to be compliant with all the areas that we inspected.

There was a registered manager at service who had registered with CQC since our last 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.

Sheridan House was very well run by an experienced registered manager and deputies who worked closely together. The service had a positive culture that was person-centred, open, inclusive and empowering. Staff said the registered manager and senior listened to them. Staff welcomed feedback from people living at the home. The registered manager provided strong leadership and was a good role model for all staff. She had established a service where staff were clear about the values and ethos of the home. A person living at the home wrote ‘I never thought I would be lucky enough to end my days in such delightful circumstances...Sheridan is part of the Eden Alternative scheme, so we are treated as adults with minds of our own.’

People consistently told us about the excellent care and support they received, these views were echoed by visitors. For example, a visitor wrote ‘Sheridan is a warm, safe and caring home. I was astonished at the skill and professionalism of all the staff when my father was going through tough times towards the end. There was a positive solution to everything - and they had time to advise and support me too!’ People were supported to lead as independent life as possible for example managing their own medicines and were encouraged to be involved in the running of the home. People said how important it was to feel in control of their lives. There was a sense of collaboration between the registered manager, staff, relatives, visitors and people living at the home; all with the goal to make the home a pleasant place to live, work and visit.

There was a commitment to care for people at the end of their life. Staff were proud of their skills in caring for people who were dying; more experienced staff recognised how younger staff might need support both practically and emotionally. Those who were skilled and passionate about enabling people to have a dignified death were supported by the registered manager to spend time with the person. A health professional said staff knew when to contact them and were quick to pick up on changes to people’s health and well-being. They said the skills of the staff group enabled people to “die with dignity” and described the care as “person centred.” They said the home was “a peaceful and calm place.”

People told us how important it was to them to stay connected to friends and family; there was a strong sense from a number of people that they were in charge of their life. This approach was promoted by the registered manager, including encouraging people to visit at different times before making a decision to move in. People said they had a clear understanding of the purpose of the assessment before they moved in and had received information about the service so they knew this was part of the process of making a decision around the suitability of the home.

People, or where appropriate their relatives, were involved in developing their care, support and treatment plans. People understood the purpose of their care plan and told us they had agreed the content. It was clear from our discussions with people they had been consulted by staff and records sho

Sheridan House is a new service and had not been inspected before.

During this inspection we spoke with 10 people who lived at the home, the manager, two staff and one visitor. We looked at the care plans for four people who lived at the home and three staff files.

Staff supported people to be involved in their care and treatment. For example staff told us and people confirmed that each monthly review of the care plan was completed with the individual.

People told us “staff are really good”, “staff look after us really well” and “staff are there to help when needed”. One person’s relative told us that they felt their relative was “so well cared for” and the home had “been a godsend for the family”.

We saw that people were protected from the risk of abuse because reasonable steps had been taken to identify the possibility of abuse and to prevent abuse. For example there were policies and procedures in place for staff to follow if they suspected abuse had occurred.

We looked at three staff files which showed us there were effective recruitment procedures in place. For example criminal records checks had been completed.

We saw evidence that new staff undertook a thorough induction period and worked with a ‘buddy’ for two to three weeks until they felt confident.

The provider had effective systems to assess and monitor the quality of the service that people received.