The New Barn

Updated 21 December 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.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of 1 inspector.

Service and service type

The New Barn 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. The New Barn 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 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

The 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 (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 spoke with 5 people who use the service and observed the care people received across the two days. We spoke with 2 relatives at the home and 1 relative on the telephone. We spoke with 10 members of staff including the registered manager, deputy manager, support staff and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We looked at 3 people’s care plans and medicine records. We also looked at 3 staff recruitment files and other records used to manage the home day to day. For example, policies and procedures, audit checks and handover paperwork.

Updated 21 December 2023

About the service

The New Barn is a residential care home providing the regulated activity of personal care to up to a maximum of 12 people. The service provides support to adults with learning disabilities and autism. At the time of our inspection there were 12 people using the service.

The home is set in a rural location. People have their own room, shared communal facilities and access to a large garden.

People’s experience of the 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 assessment and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support

People were receiving the right support however we found some concern with the record keeping and have recommended the provider reviews how records are monitored to ensure information is accurate.

People were supported by sufficient numbers of staff who had been safely recruited and understood how to recognise and report abuse.

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

People received their medicine as prescribed and staff had access to guidance to support them in delivering the right care to people. The home was clean, and staff had access to personal and protective equipment (PPE).

Right Culture

There was a positive atmosphere in the home and people interacted well with the staff team. Positive risk taking was encouraged to enable people to become more independent. The registered manager understood their responsibilities under the duty of candour.

Visitors were made to feel welcome, and relatives were positive about the service.

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 (Published 22 December 2017.)

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service and the time since our last rated inspection.

We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key question not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

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