Archived: Bruno's Cottage

Bruno’s Cottage provides accommodation with personal care for up to five people with a range of needs including, for example, people with learning disabilities and people on the autism spectrum. There were five people in residence when we inspected.

A registered manager was in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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. The new manager in post was applying to register with CQC when we inspected.

People were safe. People were protected by robust recruitment procedures from receiving unsafe care from care staff that were unsuited to the job. They were safeguarded from abuse and poor practice by care staff that knew what action they needed to take if they suspected this was happening. Care records contained risk assessments and risk management plans to protect people from identified risks and helped to keep them safe but also enabled positive risk taking.

People were cared for by sufficient numbers of care staff that were experienced and had received the training they needed to do their job safely. Care staff had received training in areas that enabled them to understand and meet the complex care needs of each person. They were able to meet the assessed needs of people living at the home.

People’s care needs had been assessed prior to admission and they each had an agreed care plan. Their care plans were regularly reviewed, reflected their individual needs and provided care staff with the information and guidance they needed to provide person centred care.

People were enabled to do things for themselves by friendly care staff that were attentive to each person’s individual needs and understood their capabilities. People’s individual preferences for the way they liked to receive their care and support were respected. There were formal systems in place to assess people’s capacity for decision making under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

People’s healthcare needs were met and they received timely treatment from other community based healthcare professionals when this was necessary. People’s medicines were appropriately and safely managed. Medicines were securely stored and there were suitable arrangements in place for their timely administration.

People’s individual nutritional needs were assessed, monitored and met with appropriate guidance from healthcare professionals that was acted upon. People had enough to eat and drink. People who needed support with eating and drinking received the help they required.

People, their representatives or significant others, were assured that if they were dissatisfied with the quality of the service they would be listened to and that appropriate remedial action would be taken to try to resolve matters to their satisfaction.

People received care from care staff that were supported and encouraged by the provider and senior care staff to do a good job caring for people. The quality of the service provided had been audited by the new manager and the provider and improvements made when necessary.

Staff told us that they received training and were assessed as competent before they were able to administer medication without supervision. We saw that staff signed for all medication given.

We looked at the training records and saw that the training staff received included training on autism and other topics relevant to the people living at Bruno's Cottage.

When we visited Bruno's Cottage 15 October 2012 we found that one person's care plans only contained very limited information about their support needs. When we visited 18 February 2012 we found that all three people living in the home had detailed care plans which gave staff details about the care and support people required.

When we visited Bruno's Cottage 15 October 2012 we found that appropriate action was not always taken following safeguarding incidents. When we visited 18 February 2012 we found the manager had introduced a system to ensure appropriate action was taken and recorded.

When we visited Bruno's Cottage 15 October 2012 we found most of the staff working in the home had not completed training in some of the key areas. When we visited 18 February 2012 we found that the provider had arranged a number of training to ensure that staff had the necessary skills and knowledge to support people safely and appropriately.

We found the provider had an effective system to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people receive.