During our visit to Brookside on 13 June 2011 we looked at the care files of three residents, including one person who was moving into the home that day for a respite stay. We spoke with two of these people in addition to many others living in the home. Some people, as a result of their limited verbal communication, were unable to tell us about their experiences, so we observed the care that they received during our visit. Throughout our visit we observed that people were asked to make choices and decisions about their care. Five days prior to our visit an allegation had been made that a resident had told someone, away from the home, that staff at the home had told her that she could not have a pudding after her dinner as she was too fat. This had been reported to the local safeguarding team who after an initial investigation had asked the service to investigate themselves as they had been unable to find any evidence to support this statement. An internal investigation was in process. During our visit we did not see or hear staff talking to people in an unacceptable way and residents did not report any concerns about their care or how they were spoken to. After lunch when asked if he had what he wanted to eat one resident said, 'I had some sandwiches and then I had some more'. This indicated to us that he had been offered the option for more and was satisfied.
We spoke with one individual who had requested staff to buy her a dressing gown. Other than finding out the colour she wanted we did not see evidence that staff had fully supported her to be involved in this purchase. For example, there was no effort made to see if she would like to go to the shops, or to look through a catalogue to make a choice. Staff told us that she did not like going out, but then said they had been able to help her do some Christmas shopping by doing it in small stages.
One person told us he liked to get up early and he went to bed when the night staff came on duty. This was a routine that he liked and he told us he did not want to stay up any later.
One person said to us, 'I like living here with my friends' another told us that they were looked after well. The care that we observed was appropriate and respected people's dignity.