What the CQC found at Joseph House

People said staff knew them well and treated them with kindness. Staff adapted how they communicated to help people make choices.

“People and staff had built positive, caring relationships.” from the report

Inspectors found enough staff to meet people's needs, including constant supervision where it was required. Staff knew how to protect people from abuse.

“There were enough staff deployed effectively across the home.” from the report

Medicines were stored securely and records showed people received them as prescribed. Staff were trained and their competence was checked.

“Medicines were stored securely for the protection of people living at the service and within appropriate temperature ranges.” from the report

Communal bathrooms needed further cleaning. One old, badly stained bath was still accessible even though the manager said it was not used, and some fittings were in poor repair.

“We found that all the communal bathrooms required further cleaning, as areas such as shower plugs and baths were dirty with hair, limescale and soap scum.” from the report

Checks such as DBS checks and references were in place, but some staff application forms contained too little information about employment history and gaps.

“For some staff application forms had very little information so we could not be assured that the registered manager had fully explored people's employment history and any gaps with them.” from the report

Fluid records did not always include drinks taken at mealtimes and there were no individual targets. This meant records did not clearly show whether some people were drinking enough.

“Staff recorded fluid intake for some people, and we noted that they did not always do this for mealtimes, and therefore records did not accurately show how much people had received to drink.” from the report