Bedford Charter House

Updated 17 August 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.

Inspection team

This inspection was completed by three 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 care service.

Service and service type

Bedford Charter House 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. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 17 people who used the service and one relative about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 13 members of staff including the provider, registered manager, care managers, senior care workers, care workers, domestic care workers, the head of human resources and the chef. We spent time observing staff supporting people using the service.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We spoke with a further six relatives over the telephone about their experience of the care provided.

Updated 17 August 2021

About the service

Bedford Charter House is a residential care home providing personal care to 53 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 72 people. Bedford Charter House has three separate floors, each of which has separate adapted facilities. One floor specialises in supporting people living with dementia. People had their own bedrooms with en-suite facilities and shared communal areas such as dining rooms, lounge areas and a large garden.

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

People and their relatives were happy with their care and support. One relative told us, ‘‘[Staff] are so lovely and treat [family member] so well. My family member is so happy living at the service and if they are happy then we are happy.’’

People were safe living at the service and staff had a good understanding of safeguarding and what to do if they had any concerns. Risks to people were assessed and measures were put in place to mitigate risks as far as possible. There were enough suitably trained staff to support people safely. People were supported safely with their medicines. Staff were trained and knew how to promote good infection control. Incidents an accidents were reviewed for any lessons that could be learned and these were shared with the staff team.

The provider and registered manager promoted a positive culture at the service. People, their relatives and the staff team were encouraged to feed back about the service and felt their suggestions were listened to. The management team completed audits to monitor the quality of the service and took action if areas for improvement were found. The staff teams worked with external professionals to promote good outcomes for people. People and their relatives were positive about the way the service was managed and the support that they received.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (report published 07 December 2019). We also inspected the service to look at IPC assurances and found no concerns (report published 09 March 2021).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to staffing levels and the way in which people using the service were being supported to have their needs met. 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. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

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.

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