Barnston Court Care Home

Updated 12 March 2022

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 care homes with outbreaks of COVID-19, we are conducting reviews to ensure that the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) practice is safe and that services are compliant with IPC measures. This was a targeted inspection looking at the IPC practices the provider has in place. We also asked the provider about any staffing pressures the service was experiencing and whether this was having an impact on the service.

This inspection took place on 21 January 2022 and was announced. We gave the service an hours’ notice of the inspection.

Updated 12 March 2022

About the service

Barnston Court Care Home is a residential care home providing accommodation, nursing and personal care to 24 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 30 people in one purpose-built building.

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

People without exception told us that staff at the home were very caring. People’s relatives praised the care that people received and expressed that they felt very welcome when visiting. It was clear that people had benefitted from the approach of the staff and registered manager. The registered manager had created a positive culture with a clear person-centred focus.

We saw that person-centred care planning had helped people to identify and achieve positive outcomes. People had been supported to reconnect with people they had lost contact with, to start doing things again that they used to enjoy and to regain independence in some areas of their lives. Staff showed creativity and determination in exploring the best possible options for people.

People received effective support to be as healthy as possible. People’s health and wellbeing was regularly monitored and if needed nurses worked in partnership with other healthcare services. People were involved in making decisions about their healthcare.

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.

People were also asked their opinions in day to day and more significant matters. Staff listened to and took action based upon the person’s views and preferences. Staff treated people with dignity and respect. They stopped and enquired about people’s wellbeing; if somebody was struggling with something, they helped but did not take over. This dignified people and helped them to be as independent as possible.

People were supported to engage in activities that were meaningful to them both inside the home and in their community.

The home’s environment and the care provided at the home was safe. People’s medication was stored and administered safely. A record was made of any accident, incident or near miss that happened. These records were regularly reviewed by the registered manager; and if appropriate they shared information with people’s families in a timely manner.

People and their family members told us that the positive culture at the home meant that they would feel comfortable raising any concerns and were confident that these would be addressed.

The home had enough care and support staff to meet people’s needs in a timely manner. Staff told us that they felt well supported in their roles and they had received regular training. Staff had received training in and were knowledgeable about safeguarding people from the risk of abuse.

We have made recommendations that the provider put a system was put in place for recording new staff work history and in future provide training to help staff deescalate and support people during stressful situations.

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 20 February 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.