Background to this inspection
Updated
25 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
This inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type
Barrock Court 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 did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission, however, the new manager was in the process of submitting their application to register. This means the provider is legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
This inspection was unannounced.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we held about the service, including the statutory notifications we had received from the provider. Statutory notifications are reports about changes, events or incidents the provider is legally obliged to send to us. We received feedback from the local authority quality and care governance team, from social workers and from district nurse teams involved with the home.
The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with seven people who used the service and three relatives about their experience of the care provided. We communicated with seven members of staff including the manager and deputy manager. We also met with the regional director, the quality compliance manager and the regional support manager.
We communicated with members of the district nurse team and received further feedback from the local authority quality and care governance team. Any information received was used to support the inspection findings.
We reviewed a range of records. This included multiple medicines records, care records of three people and various care monitoring records for people. We looked at three recruitment records and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We also spoke with the local authority to share details of our inspection findings.
Updated
25 June 2021
About the service
Barrock Court Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care for up to 28 people, including older people and people living with dementia. At the time of our inspection, 21 people were living at the home in adapted accommodation at ground level, made up of three separate units.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Infection control procedures (IPC), particularly related to the COVID-19 pandemic, had greatly improved since we last inspected. Visiting was safely taking place. We have signposted the provider to support IPC ongoing best practice, particularly regarding testing.
Medicines were generally well managed, but some recording needed to further improve, and we have made a recommendation about this.
Enough staff were on duty but we have made a recommendation regarding this to support ongoing compliance.
Safety checks on the building were carried out and any risks identified to people or staff were assessed and monitored.
People's needs had been assessed prior to moving in. The care provided was good. Some care plans and associated records still needed more detail.
People felt safe and reported that staff were very kind and caring and provided them with a good service. Suitable safeguarding procedures were followed by staff.
Quality assurance checks were in place and we were told these were to be further reviewed. A new manager had very recently come into post and was settling into the role with support from senior management.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 26 March 2021) with two breaches of regulations and we issued conditions on the providers registration. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations and had met the conditions issued against their registration.
Why we inspected
We carried out an unannounced focused inspection of this service on 5 January 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment and governance.
We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.
The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has remained as requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection. We have found evidence that the provider has made some improvements and addressed the previous breaches of regulations, but further time is required to fully address all areas and sustain good practice.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Barrock Court Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
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.
Follow up
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.