Archived: Branwell Care Home

Updated 17 May 2016

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, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and was unannounced.

Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed the PIR and other information we had about the service including statutory notifications. Notifications are information that the service is legally required to send us.

The people at the home had a learning disability and autism and were not always able to tell us about their experiences. We used a number of different methods such as undertaking observations to help us understand people’s experiences of the home.

During the inspection we spoke with three people living at the home and five staff members which included the team leader. After the inspection we spoke with three relatives and one health care professional. We looked at three people’s care and support records and four staff files. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service such as incident and accident records, meeting minutes, recruitment and training records, policies, audits and complaints.

Updated 17 May 2016

We undertook an unannounced inspection of Branwell Care Home on 31 March 2016. When the service was last inspected in February 2014 no breaches of the legal requirements were identified.

Branwell Care Home provides personal care and accommodation for up to eight people. At the time of our inspection there were five people living at the home.

A registered manager was in post at the time of our inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The service ensured people were safe by having positive risk assessments in place which promoted independence but identified and minimised risk. Medicines were managed safely by staff who were suitably trained and assessed for competency. Safe recruitment procedures were in place and new staff completed a full induction aligned with the Care Certificate. On going training ensured that staff were skilled and effective in meeting the needs of the people they supported.

Staff were knowledgeable about the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005. Examples were given of how staff used the principles of the act and embedded it into their work practice. The home had systems in place when people lacked the capacity to make a particular decision. Best interest decisions were made with the involvement of relatives and health and social care professionals.

The service was not always responsive to people’s needs as investigations and actions taken in response to complaints made were not clearly documented. This meant that the service did not always make changes or improve from concerns raised.

People’s needs were fully assessed and care records were person centred. Records described how people preferred care and support to be delivered. Staff knew people well and we observed positive relationships between people and staff.

The service engaged with people to gain their feedback. People contributed to the running of the home. They did this through meetings, questionnaires and one to one sessions.

Staff felt valued and supported within their roles. They attended regular team meetings and received on going supervision.

Positive comments were received about the team leader and the way the home was organised and led. Communication with staff and relatives was effective. A range of systems were in place to monitor the quality of the service provided to people.