About the serviceBrooklands Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care to 43 people at the time of the inspection. The home can support up to 43 people in one adapted building. The home has two floors which specialised in caring for people who are living with dementia.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.
At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.
Right Support: People were respected as individuals and their preferences were respected and promoted.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
Right Care: People received care that was person centred.
Right Culture: Staff were caring, compassionate and treated people with respect.
People and relatives told us they felt safe in the care of staff. Risk was thoroughly assessed, monitored and mitigated. People had personalised risk assessments which were detailed and gave staff the information needed to manage the risks associated with people's care. Accidents and incidents were appropriately recorded and responded to. Recruitment practices were safe and there were enough suitably qualified staff to support people. Effective processes were in place to ensure medicines were ordered, stored and administered as prescribed. Staff followed infection prevention and control guidance to minimise the risk of infection spreading.
People's needs were assessed when they first started using the service and assessments were detailed. People's care plans were detailed about individual needs and preferences relating to food and drink. There were effective systems in place for staff to escalate any concerns they had about people's health, ensuring appropriate input and advice from relevant health professionals was sought. Staff received an induction and completed mandatory training to enable them to carry out their job roles effectively. The service was designed to meet the needs of people, including those who lived with dementia.
Relatives were positive about the care and support their loved ones received and told us staff go above and beyond to ensure their loved ones are well cared for. A person told us, They [staff] treat me well all the time, they’re very nice really. They help me when I get upset.” People and, where appropriate, their relatives were involved in decisions about their ongoing care and treatment. People received sensitive support to maintain their privacy, dignity and independence.
People received a responsive and person-centred service. The registered manager recognised people as individuals with different needs. Care and support was delivered in a way that met those needs. The provider understood the importance of making information accessible and meaningful. Staff enabled people to maintain relationships with relatives and friends. Relatives spoke highly of how the home had improved the lives of their loved ones. The home had an activities co-ordinator and people had opportunities to take part in activities that were meaningful to them. There was an effective complaints management system in place.
There was a strong focus on continuous learning at all levels of the organisation. The quality and safety of the service was well monitored. People achieved good outcomes because of effective partnership working. A visiting health professional told us, “[Registered manager] is conscientious, I have no concerns about anybody being neglected and no concerns about the standard of care provided.” The registered manager gathered feedback from people, relatives and staff and understood the importance of using this feedback to improve the home.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
This service was registered with us on 19 July 2021 and this is the first inspection.
The last rating for the service under the previous provider was good, published on 8 February 2020.
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.