Archived: Bernash Care Home

Updated 17 September 2015

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. The inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

We undertook a focused inspection of Bernash Care Home on 5 August 2015. We checked that the improvements planned by the provider after our comprehensive inspection in February 2015 had been made. We also looked at matters arising from information we had received in recent weeks from the service and from the local authority.

We inspected the service against two of the five questions we ask about services: is the service safe and is the service responsive. This was because the breach found at the last inspection, and the information we have since received, were in relation to these questions.

The inspection was unannounced and undertaken by one inspector and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Before carrying out the inspection, we reviewed the information we held about the home. This included the report we received from the provider which set out the action they would take to meet legal requirements. We looked at the notifications and any information of concern we had received. Notifications are information about important events which the provider is required to tell us about by law.

During our inspection we spoke with five people who lived at the home and with six relatives. We made observations in order to see how people were supported by staff. We also spoke with five staff members and with a deputy manager (referred to as ‘staff’ in this report). The registered manager was available throughout the inspection. We looked at four people’s care records, together with other records relating to medicines and activities. 

Updated 17 September 2015

We carried out a comprehensive inspection of Bernash Care Home in February 2015. We found a breach of the legal requirements at that time. This related to care plans which did not provide clear information about the care a person required. After the inspection, the provider sent us a report of the action they would take to meet the legal requirements.

We undertook a focused inspection on 5 August 2015. This was to check on the actions taken by the provider and to confirm they now met the legal requirements. We also looked at matters arising from information we had received in recent weeks from the service and from the local authority. In particular, this information had raised concerns about how medicines were being managed and the support people received with keeping safe.

This report only covers our findings in relation to these specific areas. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'All reports' link for ‘Bernash Care Home’ on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Bernash Care Home is a care home without nursing that provides personal care for up to 23 older people. The home mainly provides support for older people who are living with dementia. There were 22 people living at Bernash Care Home at the time of our inspection.

There was a registered manager in post. 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.

We found the provider was not meeting the legal requirements in one area. This involved people’s medicines; these were not being managed in a safe way which protected people. We also found that the staffing arrangements lacked a planned approach to ensure the needs of people living with dementia were well met.

Action had been taken to improve the system of care planning and to comply with the breach made at the last inspection. However, there were aspects which were not well developed. In particular, activities were not personalised and did not fully reflect the needs of people living with dementia.

We found one breach of the regulations during our inspection. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.