Victoria House

Victoria House has 6 separate wings, each of which has separate adapted facilities. One of the wings specialises in providing care to people living with dementia and another specialises in providing support for people living with a mental health condition.

Some improvements to the décor would be beneficial to support and stimulate people living with dementia, We have made a recommendation about the environment in the effective section of the report., the registered manager began to work on this during the inspection. People were assessed prior to moving into the service and were supported by staff with a good level of knowledge and skills. People received effective support with eating and drinking. People were supported to have control over their lives. Staff worked with other agencies, seeking advice and support when needed. The service made use of adaptive technology to support independence and reduce risk.

Mental capacity assessments were in place for people who lacked or had fluctuating capacity to make specific decisions, but these did not cover all key decisions. Staff knew about the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and how to support people to make day to day choices about their care and routines. Staff supported people in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests however these decisions were not always recorded, this raised the risk of decisions being made which did not always follow the principles of the MCA.

Systems in place to monitor the quality and standards of the service were not always effective. We found inconsistencies in records relating to allergy information, diabetes risk assessments and MCA assessments. There was a positive culture in the service. People said the registered manager was approachable and responsive. Staff received regular supervision and 1 to 1 meetings to support learning and development. The provider had clear policies and procedures in place to support staff. There was an ongoing improvement plan for the service. The provider ensured any lessons learned from incidents was shared across the service

and region.

People were treated with respect and their dignity was upheld. People were involved in their care planning. We observed staff interacting with people in a friendly and supportive way. There was a positive approach to the delivery of people's care. Staff understood the people they were supporting and knew them well.

Care plans contained information about people's preferences and people received care tailored to their needs and wishes. Activities were planned to enable people with a range of communication needs to be involved. There was easy read information available in the service. The provider responded appropriately to complaints and sought out regular feedback from staff, relatives and people using the service.