We carried out this inspection because we had not visited the service since 2009 and we did not have enough information about the service to assess compliance. We wanted to see what life was like for the people who lived in the home.An expert by experience took part in this inspection and talked to people using the service and staff. An expert by experience is some one who uses services, or has had experience of services. They are people of all ages, with different experiences and from diverse cultural backgrounds. Our expert by experience took some notes and wrote a report about what they found, we have included their observations in the main body of this report.
The service Abbots House is one of Stoke-on-Trent City Councils residential care services for older people and described as a centre of excellence, providing accommodation and support for people who have a dementia care diagnosis. At the time of our visit there were 21 people living at the service, of whom seven were receiving an assessment.
We visited the service and spoke to people using the service, relatives, visiting health professionals and staff. We looked at records of care, staff rotas, staff recruitment records and observed interactions.
A visiting nurse said, "The staff here are excellent and always respond positively to instruction."
We saw that people had their care needs assessed and had care plans in place.
People told us they were happy living at the home, they showed that they were able to choose what they wanted to do and the meals they had.
People told us, "I am happy here" "We are fine here, we can do the things we want to do."
Before our visit we contacted other people who may have had an interest in the service such as fire safety officers, environmental health, and local involvement networks (LINks). LINks are groups of individual members of the public and local voluntary and community groups who work together to improve health and social care services. To do this they gather the views of local people. No concerns were identified by any of these agencies.