Archived: Begbrook House Care Home

Begbrook House is a care home that provides personal and nursing care for up to 32 older people. The service is provided in accommodation on one level and divided into four units. At the time of the inspection, 29 people were living at the home.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Staff continued to be supported with training to help ensure they had the knowledge and skills they needed to carry out their roles effectively. They told us they enjoyed the training and sharing what they had learnt with colleagues. Staff felt supported by the management and their colleagues and worked well as a team. The manager and deputy understood their responsibility to comply with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). People were supported to enjoy a healthy, nutritious, balanced diet whilst promoting and respecting choice.

Quality checks needed to improve to ensure that record keeping and monitoring of people’s needs were effective and of a good standard. Some further training around completing and sending information to CQC needed to improve. Stability of a management presence continued to improve and support the service. People told us they were listened to and were confident to raise complaints or concerns. They also found the ‘resident’ meetings arranged were useful and kept them informed of any changes.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection (and update) Good (published 2018). There was a breach at the inspection of March 2018.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service March 2018. A breach of a legal requirement was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve an effective service.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Effective and Well-led.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those Key Questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has remained the same. Although no further breaches were identified some improvements were required in Well Led. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Begbrook House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive. We will visit the service in line with our inspection schedule, or sooner if required.

There was not a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

A manager had been appointed but had not commenced at the time of the inspection. The regional support manager (interim manager) had been managing the service temporarily for eight weeks prior to the inspection to help support consistent leadership for the service. They would also be providing an induction for the new manager once they commenced in post.

Staff wanted to keep people safe and protect them from avoidable harm. The interim manager listened to people and staff to ensure there were enough staff to meet people's needs. They demonstrated their responsibilities in recognising changing circumstances within the service to help ensure that staffing levels and skill mix was effective. People were supported by the service’s recruitment policy and practices to help ensure that staff were suitable. Medicines were managed safely and staff protected people by following the home’s guidance on infection control.

Staff had the knowledge and skills they needed to carry out their roles effectively. They enjoyed attending training sessions and sharing what they had learnt with colleagues. The interim manager and deputy understood their responsibility to comply with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). People were supported to enjoy a healthy, nutritious, balanced diet whilst promoting and respecting choice. However fluid and food intake charts were not consistently completed.

Staff had a good awareness of people’s needs and treated them in a warm and respectful manner. The interim manager and staff were knowledgeable about people's lives before they started using the service. Every effort was made to enhance this knowledge so that their life experiences remained meaningful through activity and social stimulation. People received care that was person centred and based on their personal preferences.

Everyone involved in this inspection demonstrated a genuine commitment to the roles they performed and individual responsibilities. They wanted to ensure those living at the service felt safe and valued. Staff embraced new initiatives with the support of the provider, interim manager and colleagues. They continued to look at the needs of people who used the service and ways to improve these so people felt empowered to make positive changes.

The provider and interim manager had implemented a programme of improvements that was being well managed. The interim manager demonstrated a good understanding of the importance of effective quality assurance systems, however audits needed to improve to ensure food and fluid charts were completed consistently. There were processes in place to monitor quality and understand the experiences of people who used the service.

We found one breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.