Archived: Bridge House

Bridge House is a care home providing personal care to up to 37 people. The service provides permanent accommodation and short-term respite care to older people and people who are living with dementia. The home is on three floors and there is a passenger lift to assist people to access accommodation on the upper floors. All bedrooms are single occupancy and 3 have ensuite facilities. There are bathrooms, toilets and communal areas on each floor of the home. At the time of the inspection there were 28 people using the service.

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

People were safe and protected from harm and abuse. There were enough staff, with the right skills, to support people. The provider used safe systems when new staff were employed. Risks to people were identified and managed. People received their medicines safely and as they needed. The provider and registered manager had systems to learn and share lessons from incidents. People were protected against the risk of infection.

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 told us this was a good service and said they would recommend it. People knew the registered manager and how they could speak to them. The registered manager was committed to providing people with person-centred care. People were asked for their views and their feedback was used to further improve the service. Staff felt well supported and able to provide good care to people. The registered manager and staff worked in partnership with other services to ensure people received the care they needed.

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 8 November 2017).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

The rating for the service had not been reviewed since the inspection in 2017. We undertook a focused inspection to check people continued to receive safe and high-quality care. We reviewed the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall 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.

The overall rating for the service has remained good based on the findings of this inspection.

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

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

Since we conducted this inspection, the legal entity has changed. The service has been re-registered with Westmorland and Furness Council. Therefore this report will be archived.

We found the following examples of good practice.

Visitors were able to spend time seeing and speaking with loved ones in a suitable safe space by arranged appointments. Families had been supported to spend time with people at the end of their lives in a safe and dignified manner. The building layout and designated different uses of entrance areas ensured good practices of infection prevention and control were carried out.

Regular home testing was in place and any admissions to the home were made following current guidelines and recommended practices. Admissions to the home who required isolating were supported in designated rooms and separate areas of the home for the isolation period. A dedicated team of staff were also allocated who could support all their needs, including their meals and social support.

The staff in the home used social media to ensure people could keep in regular contact with their families and friends. We saw that people had been kept occupied, some staff had been delegated to support people in doing a variety of activities daily. Families had been sent photographs and their feedback to the home had been very positive.

Staff had been specifically trained in infection control practices in managing the coronavirus. The provider had a designated expert available for infection control advice. The home had a designated cleaning staff team and audits on cleanliness and infection prevention and control were completed.

People had been supported to access their own GP either via a call or by physical visits as and when they needed to. People had also been supported to be seen regularly by the community nurses to receive care and treatment as they required.

We were assured that this service met good infection prevention and control guidelines as a designated care setting

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

We last inspected the home in November 2014. At that inspection the service was rated as Good. This comprehensive inspection took place on 18 and 19 September 2017 and was unannounced on the first day. At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the (CQC) 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.

Medicines were being administered and recorded appropriately and were being kept safely.

During the inspection we saw there were sufficient numbers of suitable staff to meet people’s needs. Staff had completed a variety of training that enabled them to improve their knowledge in order to deliver care and treatment safely.

Where safeguarding concerns or incidents had occurred these had been reported by the registered manager to the appropriate authorities and we could see records of the actions that had been taken by the home to protect people.

People’s rights were protected. The registered manager was knowledgeable about their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. People were only deprived of their liberty if this had been authorised by the appropriate body or where applications had been made to do so.

People were supported to maintain good health and appropriate referrals to other healthcare professionals had been made.

There was a clear management structure in place and staff were happy with the level of support they received.

People living in the home were supported to access activities that were made available to them and pastimes of their choice.

Auditing and quality monitoring systems were in place that allowed the service to demonstrate effectively the safety and quality of the home.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Further information is in the detailed findings below