Southerndown

Southerndown is a care home registered to provide personal and nursing care to older people, including people living with dementia. The service comprises of two separate units, including one which specialised in providing care to people living with dementia. There were 77 people living at the service at the time of our inspection.

People's experience of using this service:

People benefitted from being supported by enthusiastic, motivated and compassionate staff. The entire team at the service demonstrated a visible person-centred culture enabling people to feel they were really cared for and mattered. Staff had developed very positive and meaningful, caring relationships with people. The care provided was sensitive to people's diverse needs.

People were respected, included in decisions and their privacy and independence maintained to a high standard. People's independence was promoted, and the provider sought new ways of working, such as a dementia accreditation programme, that had a positive impact on people's well-being. The provider employed a dementia care specialist nurse who provided additional support to people living with dementia and their families.

People's healthcare and nutritional needs were met. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People benefitted from suitably trained, competent and skilled staff.

People were supported to take their medicines as prescribed and other risks to their health and wellbeing were managed safely. The provider had good systems to manage safeguarding concerns, accidents, infection control and environmental safety.

The provider's quality assurance systems remained effective. There was a new registered manager who was well supported by the provider and by a robust team of staff who all had clearly set out roles and responsibilities. There was an open, transparent and positive culture at the service. External professionals were complimentary about how the service worked in partnership with them.