We talked to the three people living in the home individually and we spoke with a representative of the authority who pay for the care of people at the home.Two of the three people living in the home told us that they would like to become more independent and move on from the home. One person said that staff were not helping him to try and become more independent and felt they were not helping him with his goals. People said that the manager consulted them about their care. One person said staff sometimes consulted him. This person said that staff did not force him to do anything but did not always ask his views and wishes. We asked people if they thought the service provided to them at this home met their needs. One said Yes, that he got on well with staff and felt he was supported. One said he would like more support from staff and his needs were not being met. The other said he was not sure if his needs were met.
One person said he is supported to go swimming and watch football and sometimes visits a day service. One person said staff sometimes play games with him which he likes. Two people said they would like to develop more independence skills and needed support from staff to do this.
People living at the home told us that the menu was not varied and they had the same meals every week. One person said he felt sick when eating too much pie, chips and beans. Another said there was too much frozen food. Two said they would like more fresh food. We asked what food they don't have but would like. Their suggestions were; lamb chops, mushrooms, lasagne, carrots, grapes, grapefruit, oranges, plums, bananas and tangerines. One person said he would love a fruit bowl on the table with fresh fruit. They also said they would like more foods that they were used to before living in this home such as salt fish, curry, yams and sweet potatoes.
All three residents also said that that every evening they have takeaway meals. They said staff go out to buy the takeaway but that residents have to pay for it.
We asked two people if staff at the home support them to get other services; for example going to doctor and hospital appointments. Both said that staff support them with this. One person said he is unable to go out alone and staff will always help him to attend appointments with other professionals he needs to see. We asked two people if they felt safe in the home. One said he felt safe and got on 'reasonably well' with staff and the manager.
We discussed medication with one of the people living in the home. He said that staff looked after his medication, kept it locked away and that he believed he always received it at the right times.
We discussed the building with two people living there. One said it was 'alright.' The other said he did not like the smoking area which was unsafe.
One person said he got on 'alright' with staff. Another said he felt staff did not spend enough time with him and did not help him enough with his goals.
The three people who live at the home offered suggestions for improvements to their life in the home; such as improvements to the food, staff support to help them become more independent and improvements to their smoking area. We were not able to clarify whether they had asked the provider for these improvements.
We were able to discuss complaints with one person who lives at this home. This person said he had been given a copy of the complaints procedure and that he still had it in his bedroom.
He said he had never made a complaint. We asked if he had asked the manager or the provider to make improvements as he had suggested to us some improvements he would like in the home. He said he had not and he was not sure if he would be listened to.