Braemar Care Home

Updated 10 June 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was undertaken by an inspector and an assistant inspector.

Service and service type

Braemar Care Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

Before the inspection we reviewed the information, we had about the service, including previous reports and notifications. Notifications are information about specific important events the service is legally required to send to us. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection-

We spoke with five people who lived at Braemar Care Home about their experience of the care provided. We carried out observations of people's experiences throughout the inspection. We viewed the home’s environment, looked at medicines management systems and records, records relating to the environment and risk assessments for individual people. We also looked at recruitment records for newer staff members and assessed how the home was managing infection prevention and control.

We spoke with the registered manager, deputy manager, provider’s quality manager, two housekeeping staff and seven care staff members. We also spoke with the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We spoke with four additional staff members, contacted 11 relatives and 12 external health or social care professionals. We reviewed additional information sent to us by the registered manager. This included a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including accident and incident records and policies and procedures, audits and information about staff training.

Updated 10 June 2021

About the service

Braemar Care Home is a care home providing accommodation for up to 35 people, some of whom are living with dementia. At the time of our inspection, there were 31 people living in the service. Braemar Care Home provides single and shared bedrooms with ensuite WC’s and a range of suitable communal facilities.

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

People were happy living at Braemar Care Home and spoke positively about the care they received. They told us they felt safe.

People received their prescribed medicines as required. There were safe arrangements in place for obtaining, storing and disposing of medicines.

Recruitment practices were effective and there were always sufficient numbers of staff available to meet people's needs in a safe and unhurried way.

People were protected from avoidable harm. Risks posed to and by people had been assessed and measures were in place and followed by staff, to manage individual people’s risks. Environmental and infection control risks were also managed appropriately.

People's care plans and risk assessments contained detailed information about them and their care and support needs, to help staff deliver care that was individual to each person. Staff had received appropriate training and support to enable them to carry out their role safely.

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.

The service had a very positive person-centred culture. People and staff told us the registered manager and other members of the management team were approachable. Staff, external health and social care professionals, people and their relatives all felt the registered manager was open, approachable and supportive. Everyone was confident actions would be taken to address any concerns promptly.

The service worked in partnership with other agencies to aid joined up, person centred care

provision. There were effective governance systems in place to identify any concerns in the service and drive improvement.

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 Requires Improvement (Published 4 July 2019).

At this inspection we found improvements had been made.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

We reviewed the information we held about the service and looked at the management systems under the Well-led key question. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

The overall rating for the service has changed from Requires Improvement to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Braemar Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.