Barleycombe

Updated 20 July 2023

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

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

The inspection was undertaken by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

Barleycombe is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Barleycombe is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service under 2 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because 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 and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We met 7 people who used the service and spoke with 5 people. We spent time in the shared areas of the service and observed staff interactions with people. We spoke with the registered manager, deputy manager, property manager and area manager. We also spoke briefly with staff who were supporting people during our inspection visit. We undertook a tour of the building with the registered manager. We reviewed a range of records including the care records and medicine records of 4 people, staff recruitment records of 2 staff and records relating to health and safety and governance.

Following our visit, spoke with 5 people’s relatives on the telephone and received electronic feedback from 4 members of care staff and 1 person’s relative.

Updated 20 July 2023

About the service

Barleycombe is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care support up to 11 people in one adapted building, with a separate flat that can accommodate 2 people. The service provides support to people with a learning disability and autistic people. At the time of our inspection there were 11 people using the service, 1 of these people were in hospital and due to return to Barleycombe the week after our visit.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

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

Right Support:

Staff knew how people preferred to take their medicines to achieve best possible health outcomes. People were supported with their medicines and received them as required.

Staff supported people to take part in activities and participate in the community they lived in.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Right Care:

Staff promoted people's individuality and diversity and their views about how they wanted to receive support were valued and listened to. People received kind and compassionate care from staff who were knowledgeable about people’s individual needs.

People’s care records provided guidance to staff on the level of support they wanted and how to keep people safe from abuse and avoidable harm.

Right Culture:

The management team had worked to make improvements since our last inspection, this included monitoring and oversight and improvements being undertaken in the environment, which were ongoing. This provided a positive impact on people’s wellbeing. The service was empowering and inclusive, with regard to people’s preferences and choice.

People were supported by enough staff who were recruited safely. Staff told us they enjoyed their work, received training relevant to their role and felt supported by the management team. People were relaxed around the staff and their independence was promoted and respected.

The service was visibly clean, and people’s relatives could visit when they wanted to.

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 requires improvement (published 13 January 2022) and there were breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

At our last inspection we recommended that the provider assess the intensity and level of responsibility of hours worked by staff to ensure the safety and well-being of staff and people. At this inspection we found the provider had made improvements.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced focused inspection of this service on 30 November 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found in relation to safeguarding, safe care and treatment, governance and person-centred care. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last comprehensive inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good based on the findings of 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 COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive and focused inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Barleycombe on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.