Barking Hall Nursing Home

Updated 6 March 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

This inspection was carried out by two inspectors and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. This expert by experience had experience with older people and those living with dementia.

Service and service type:

Barking Hall is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided in line with the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations.

Notice of inspection: This inspection was unannounced.

What we did:

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about. We assessed the information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection, we spoke with 14 people who used the service and one relative to ask about their experience of the care provided. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We spoke with the registered manager, deputy manager, the regional director from the provider’s organisation, two nurses, the activities coordinator, the chef and two care staff. We looked at five records in relation to people who used the service. We also looked at staff files as well as records relating to the management of the service, recruitment, policies, training and systems for monitoring quality.

Updated 6 March 2019

What life is like for people using this service:

• People who live at Barking Hall have their needs met by sufficient numbers of suitably trained staff. We observed people’s requests for assistance being answered promptly. Staff were kind and caring towards people and knew them as individuals.

• The environment was comfortable and safe. There was dementia friendly signage making it easier for people to find toilets, the dining room(s) and lounges.

• People were supported to remain engaged and had appropriate access to meaningful activity. There was a range of activities on offer to suit people’s preferences, including weekly trips.

• People were offered a choice of good quality, nutritional meals. People were provided with appropriate support to reduce the risk of malnutrition or dehydration.

• People received the support they required at the end of their life. The manager had plans in place to enhance end of life care planning.

• The service worked well with other organisations to ensure people had joined up care. People were supported to have input from external healthcare professionals.

• People and their representatives were involved in the planning of their care and given opportunities to feedback on the service they received. People’s views were acted upon.

See more information in Detailed Findings below.

Rating at last inspection: Requires Improvement (report published 31 January 2018)

About the service: Barking Hall provides accommodation, nursing and personal care for up to 49 people who require 24 hour support and care. Some people were living with dementia. At the time of our visit 42 people were using the service.

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection. The service has made sufficient improvements to be rated Good.

Follow up: Going forward we will continue to monitor this service and plan to inspect in line with our reinspection schedule for those services rated Good.