Berwood Court Care Home

Updated 20 October 2021

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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection team comprised two inspectors, a specialist nursing advisor in dementia care and telephone calls were made to relatives by 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.

Service and service type

Berwood Court Care Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. 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 that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The provider was asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

We reviewed information from Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 11 people who used the service and two relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 12 staff including domestic, catering, care and nursing staff, the registered manager, the compliance manager and the quality director. 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 reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and training. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

Five relatives were contacted by the Expert by Experience to gather their views on the care provided. We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data, staff rotas, surveys and minutes of resident and staff meetings.

Updated 20 October 2021

About the service

Berwood Court Care Home is a care home providing personal and nursing care to 49 people, some living with dementia at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 74 people.

Berwood Court Care Home is a purpose built, specially adapted home across four units over two floors.

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

People were protected from abuse and relatives we spoke with were assured the home environment was safe for their family members to live in. Staff knew how to report any suspicions of abuse. Risks to people were reviewed every month and supported to remain as safe as possible.

On the day of inspection, there were enough staff employed to meet people's needs and there were recruitment procedures in place to check staff were safe to work with people.

People were supported to take their medicines in a safe manner. There were no issues with the recording and storage of medicines.

We were assured the provider had safe infection prevention and control procedures in place, including in relation to the management of COVID-19. The home environment was very clean, tidy and no clutter.

Incidents and accidents had been reported appropriately and reviewed for any trends to mitigate future risk.

Since the last inspection there have been some changes to the management of the service and restructuring of its processes. We found effective systems were in place to monitor the quality within the home. The feedback we received from families was positive. They were happy with the care given to their relative, the cleanliness of the service, staffing levels and staff attitude. Although they felt the communication from the service could be more efficient.

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.

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

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 18 December 2019) and there were multiple breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating. We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

Enforcement

Since the last inspection we recognised the provider had failed to notify CQC of all incidents they were required to do so by law and this was a breach of regulations. We issued a fixed penalty notice. The provider accepted the fixed penalty and paid this in full.

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

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.