AN ANDOVER care home has been rated as ‘good’ in its first inspection by the industry watchdog.

Harrier Grange has been praised by the Care Quality Commission after a visit on June 25 and 27.

The home is designed to provide nursing, residential, dementia and respite care for up to 66.

When inspectors visited the home, which opened in February last year, they deemed it was providing a ‘good’ service that was safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.

The CQC found the home supported its residents to have “maximum choice and control of their lives” and that “people’s privacy and dignity was respected, and independence promoted”.

In their report published on July 30, inspectors lauded staff, adding: “People were supported by staff who knew them well. Staff we spoke with were enthusiastic about their jobs, and showed care and understanding both for the people they supported and their colleagues.”

Home director Kay Jerrams was praised for being “active”, “available” and “approachable” and was deemed to have created a “warm and supportive environment in which people had clearly thrived”.

The home’s activities co-ordinator Chris Martin was also credited with having “spent time with residents and collating information about people’s life history” to develop a programme.

Medicines were also seen to have been stored “safely and securely”,

Inspectors did, however, make two recommendations and suggested the home provided a “secure environment” to complete care notes and receive phone calls relating to people’s care.

It was also observed that some staff had not received supervision as regularly as required and it was deemed that the home should “look at current guidance and best practice” to enable management to support staff fully.

Kay said: “We’re naturally delighted to have received this rating from the Care Quality Commission as it’s recognition for all the hard work everyone associated with the home has carried out over the last 18 months since we opened.

“It’s great to receive such positive feedback from residents, relatives and everyone who spoke with the CQC when they visited our home.

“We have created a happy home for residents to live in and lovely place for staff to work in. We can only strive to do even better the next time we are inspected.”