Balmain Care Home

Updated 11 February 2021

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.

As part of CQC’s response to the coronavirus pandemic we are looking at the preparedness of care homes in relation to infection prevention and control. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection control and prevention measures the provider has in place.

This inspection took place on 28 January 2021 and was announced.

Updated 11 February 2021

About the service

Balmain Care home, hereafter referred to as Balmain, is a care home that is registered to support up to 29 people. At the time of our inspection 27 people were living there, 12 of whom were having support with their personal care, mental health and wellbeing. 15 people required support with their mental health and wellbeing but did not require support with personal care.

Balmain is in the coastal city of Plymouth and is four houses knocked through to create one large building. There are three floors, two lounges, dining areas, and smoking and non-smoking garden areas.

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

People were protected from abuse and avoidable harm by staff that knew their needs well and had been provided with safeguarding training. Risks that people faced were assessed and staff had a good understanding of people’s health conditions and unique behaviours and how to support these.

Staff were safely recruited and there were enough staff on shift to be visible and meet the needs of people. People enjoyed the food and could also go out to buy their own food if they wished to.

Staff were kind and caring and interacted with people in a friendly way, we heard banter and saw people responded well to staff when they entered a room.

People were supported as much as they wanted to be, to encourage further independence and develop their life skills. Some people came and went as they pleased, and others were supported in a more structured way to access local community facilities.

People said they could approach staff if they wished to make a complaint, and complaints were recorded.

There was a registered manager and deputy manager who oversaw the day to day running of the service. Quality assurance checks were taking place for building safety, care provision and records.

Professionals we spoke with told us of the unique nature of this service supporting some people who had historically disengaged from all services. The service understood that people chose how much support they wished to have and offered safe challenge and positive risk taking as part of their support.

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.

Rating at last inspection (and update)

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 9 January 2019).

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.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.