Briar Hill House

Updated 22 March 2019

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

Inspection team: The inspection was completed by one inspector 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.

Service and service type: Briar Hill House is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and 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 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 carried out on 24 January 2019. It was unannounced.

What we did: We used information we held about the home which included notifications that they sent us to plan this inspection. We also used the completed Provider Information Return (PIR). This is 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. However, the provider had completed this nine months previously and we therefore gave opportunities for them to update us throughout the inspection.

We used a range of different methods to help us understand people’s experiences. We spoke with seven people who lived at the home about the support they received. As some of the people found verbal communication more difficult, we also observed the interaction between people and the staff who supported them in communal areas throughout the inspection visit. We also spoke with three people’s relatives to gain their feedback on the quality of care received.

We spoke with the area support manager, a registered manager from one of the provider’s other homes, the deputy manager, three nurses, and three care staff. We also spoke with three volunteers, the music therapist, and after the inspection visit we gained feedback from one health professionals. We reviewed care plans for five people to check they were accurate and up to date. We also looked at medicines administration records and reviewed systems the provider had in place to ensure the quality of the service was continuously monitored and reviewed to drive improvement. These included accidents and incidents analysis, meetings minutes and quality audits.

Updated 22 March 2019

About the service: Briar Hill House is a residential care home that was providing personal care to older people and people with physical disabilities. They were registered to provide care for 36 people and there were 33 living at the home when we visited. The accommodation consists of two floors each of which has large communal areas with kitchenettes.

People’s experience of using this service:

The service met the characteristics of outstanding.

People received extremely caring and kind support from staff who kept their dignity at the centre of all interaction. They were partners in their care and encouraged to make decisions about this. When they were less able to verbalise, staff understood their preferred methods of communication. They embraced family and advocate support and input in this. Staff went the extra mile to ensure people were happy and respected in their home.

People received care which was extremely personalised and reflected their preferences. Staff were dedicated to ensuring their needs were met and their health and wellbeing closely monitored. People were encouraged to meet goals and regain independence when possible. Activities were creative and diverse to meet different people’s interests and needs. There were plans in place which detailed people’s likes and dislikes and these were regularly reviewed. They included end of life care and the provider embedded an open and honest culture around death and dying. People knew how to raise a concern or make a complaint and the registered manager responded to any complaints in line with the provider’s procedure.

People continued to receive safe care. There were enough staff to support them and they were recruited in a safe way to ensure that they were safe to work with people. People were protected from the risk of harm and received their prescribed medicines safely. Lessons were learnt from when mistakes happened.

The care that people received continued to be effective. They were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Staff received training and support to be able to care for people well. They ensured that people were supported to maintain good health and nutrition; including partnerships with other organisations when needed. The environment was adapted to meet people’s needs.

The registered manager was approachable and there were systems in place which encouraged people to give their feedback. There were quality structures in place which were effective in continually developing the quality of the care that was provided to them.

More information is in the full report.

Rating at last inspection: The service was last inspected on 28 April 2016 and was rated good.

Why we inspected: This was a scheduled inspection based on the date the service was registered.

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

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