Bannister Farm Cottage

Updated 2 July 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

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Bannister Farm 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 announced . We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small and people are often out and we wanted to be sure there would be people at home to speak with us.

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 commissioning and safeguarding teams. The provider was not 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 Bannister Farm and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke about Bannister Farm with two relatives, four employees and the registered manager. We walked around the building to carry out a visual check. We did this to ensure Bannister Farm was clean, hygienic and a safe place for people to live.

We looked at records related to service management. We checked care records of two people and looked at medication, staffing levels, recruitment and quality oversight.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at their policies, staff rotas, training matrix, quality assurance systems and recruitment records.

Updated 2 July 2021

About the service

Bannister Farm Cottage is a care home providing personal care to four people at the time of our inspection. The service can support up to five younger adults living with a learning disability or mental health condition. Accommodation consists of self-contained flats with additional communal spaces and a garden for people’s comfort and enjoyment. Bannister Farm Cottage will be referred to as Bannister Farm within this report.

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

The registered manager regularly checked the environment and had multiple control measures to reduce the risk of unsafe care. Relatives described the positive impact the current management team had on people’s welfare. A relative said, “There’s been a real drop in the number of incidents and that’s because they are much more aware of [my relative] and how best to care for him.” Staff followed current guidance to retain effective infection control measures. The registered manager maintained sufficient staffing levels to ensure people’s needs were constantly met in a timely way.

The current management team worked hard at improving the culture and ethos at Bannister Farm. Relatives said the registered manager and staff excelled at maintaining people’s individuality and human rights during the pandemic. One relative commented, “When I wasn’t allowed to visit they suggested I keep that contact going by reading bedtime stories every night. It was lovely.” The registered manager completed a range of audits to maintain everyone’s wellbeing.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right Support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

This service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Staff supported people to make their own decisions and lead discussions on what they wanted to do. Staff were consistently kind and respectful, ensuring each person maintained their independence and privacy. People confirmed they were happy and settled at Bannister Farm.

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 good (published 19 February 2020).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about risk management, environmental safety and comfort, staff training, safely supporting people with behaviours that challenge the service and leadership. As a result, 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. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

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 remained good and the well-led section has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

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 coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Croft 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.