Bethany House Care Home

Updated 30 May 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check 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.

Bethany Christian Home is a residential care home and accommodates a maximum of 26 people. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulated both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during the inspection.

The inspection was planned as a routine comprehensive inspection. Prior to the inspection we contacted the local authority for feedback who gave positive reports about the leadership and service people received.

This inspection took place on 4 March 2018. The inspection was unannounced. The inspection was carried out by two adult social care inspectors 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 service. The expert by experience had knowledge of dementia care.

Before our inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service and contacted the local authority commissioners. We reviewed notifications of incidents that the provider had sent us since their registration. A notification is information about important events, which the service is required to send us by law.

We reviewed the information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. 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. We reviewed people, relatives, staff and professional feedback during the inspection and comments left by people and relatives on a care home reviews website. We spoke with the registered manager, the deputy manager and 6 staff during the inspection.

We looked at 6 records which related to people’s individual care needs. We discussed staff recruitment processes with the registered manager, reviewed staff training and looked at the quality assurance processes used to review the quality of the care provided. We discussed complaints, safeguarding and incidents which had occurred within the home over the past 12 months, with the registered manager. We also reviewed policies and procedures, and the complaints process. We received 2 questionnaires from relatives about people’s care following the inspection.

Updated 30 May 2018

Bethany Christian Home is a residential care home which provides care and accommodation for up to 26 older people, some of whom are living with dementia. At the time of the inspection there were 22 people living at the service.

This inspection took place on 4 March 2018. The inspection was unannounced. The last inspection took place on 29 and 30 July 2015, the service was rated Good with the “Caring” domain as Outstanding. At this inspection we found the overall rating remained "Good" with the Caring as Outstanding.

There was 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.

Exceptional feedback from people and their relatives told us staff were dedicated, caring, kind and went the extra mile. Staff demonstrated compassion for people through their conversations and interactions to make sure they mattered. They did special things which made people feel valued. Feedback about the caring nature and acts of kindness continued to be excellent. People told us their privacy and dignity was promoted and those who were able, were actively involved in making choices and decisions about how they wanted to live their lives. People were protected from abuse because staff understood what action to take if they were concerned someone was being abused or mistreated.

The leadership at the service was very good. The team at Bethany Christian Home was well led by the registered manager and provider who enabled safe, responsive, effective and high quality care. There were robust quality assurance systems in place to help assess the ongoing quality of the service, and to help identify any areas which might require improvement. Complaints were listened to and incidents were learned from to ensure ongoing improvement. The registered manager and provider promoted the ethos of honesty and admitted when things had gone wrong. The service kept abreast of changes to maintain quality care and was constantly striving to improve.

People received care which was responsive to their needs. People and their relatives were encouraged to be part of the care planning process. This helped to ensure the care being provided met people’s individual needs and preferences. Support plans and care were personalised and guided staff to help people in the way they liked.

Risks associated with people’s care and living environment were effectively managed to ensure people’s freedom was promoted. People were supported by consistent staff to help meet their needs in the way they preferred. People’s independence was encouraged and staff helped people feel valued. The registered manager and provider wanted to ensure the right staff were employed, so recruitment practices were safe and ensured that checks had been undertaken. People’s medicines were safely managed and given to them on time.

People received care from staff who had undertaken training to be able to meet their unique needs. People’s human rights were protected because the registered manager and staff had an understanding of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.

People’s nutritional needs were met because staff followed people’s support plans to make sure people were eating and drinking enough and potential risks were known. People were supported to access health care professionals to maintain their health and wellbeing.

Policies and procedures across the service were being developed to ensure information was given to people in accessible formats when required. People were treated equally and fairly. Staff adapted their communication methods dependent upon people’s needs, for example using simple questions and information for people with cognitive difficulties and information about the service was available in larger print for those people with visual impairments.