Barn Park Residential Home

We found the following examples of good practice.

Staff were following current infection prevention and control guidance to help people to stay safe. There were suitable risk assessments and an up to date infection control policy and procedure in place. The registered manager ensured staff understood why every measure was in place.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) was readily available around the building. We saw there was a good supply of PPE for staff to use. Staff were observed to be wearing PPE appropriately and disposed of it in clinical waste bins. People’s temperatures were taken on a daily basis to help monitor for signs of Covid 19. Whole home testing was undertaken, with frequency of testing people and staff in line with current guidance.

Staff had completed training to ensure staff knew how to keep people safe during the Covid-19 pandemic. Staff had also been supported by outside health professionals to ensure safe infection prevention and control measures were in place.

The service had an infection control lead to oversee the cleanliness of the service. Infection prevention and control audits were carried out to ensure the premises was meeting infection control measures. A cleaning schedule for all areas of the home was in place and implemented to ensure the whole home was effectively cleaned on a regular basis.

Staff supported people to occupy themselves whilst maintaining their safety. Staff helped people to stay in touch with their families. Alternative forms of maintaining social contact were used for friends and relatives; for example: keeping in touch using video calls.

Facilities were in place to wash hands or use hand sanitiser on entering and leaving the home. Visitors were limited. There was a booking in system in place to stagger visits. A visitors ‘pod’ has been introduced to allow visitors to visit people safely. This enabled safe visits to go ahead which ensured no contact with other people and minimal contact with staff.

Visitors were supported to wear a face covering when visiting, and wash hands before/after mask use. All visitors were screened for symptoms of acute respiratory infection before being allowed to enter the home and other signs of Covid-19. There was prominent signage and instructions to explain what people should do to ensure safety. Information was easily accessible on arrival or before visits to ensure visitors followed guidance, procedures or protocols to ensure compliance with infection prevention control.

The registered manager communicated with people, staff and family members regularly to make sure everyone had an understanding of precautions being taken, and how to keep people safe.

Barn Park Residential Home is registered to provide personal care for up to 24 older people. This includes people who are living with dementia. The home is a larger older property with an extension to one side. A further extension was currently under construction and when this is completed this will add eight more bedrooms. Barn Park has been a care home for many years but for the last year the service has been run by new care providers. At the time of the inspection, 24 people were in residence.

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

People were receiving a service that was safe. People were safeguarded from harm because the staff team understood their role in keeping them safe and reporting any issues of concern. Any risks to people’s health and welfare were identified in the assessment and care planning process and actions taken to ensure the risk was mitigated. The number of staff on duty for each shift was calculated based upon each person’s care and support needs. New staff were recruited safely to ensure they were suitable to look after vulnerable people. Pre-recruitment checks included written references and a Disclosure and Barring Service check. Medicines were well managed and only administered by staff who were trained and competent. People received their medicines as prescribed. People were protected by the homes infection control policy and procedures.

The service was effective in meeting people’s care and support needs. New staff to the service completed an induction training programme and all other staff had a programme of training to keep their knowledge and skills up to date. Staff were offered the opportunity to undertake additional health and social care qualifications. At the time of this inspection 65% of staff had achieved this. Staff were well trained and were regularly supervised. The staff team ensured people had access to the healthcare support they needed. This included their GP, district nurses, speech and language therapists (SALT) and other allied healthcare professionals. People were provided with a healthy, balanced diet that met their own individual preferences.

People were encouraged to retain as much choice and control of their daily lives and staff supported them in their best interests. The service was meeting the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.

The service was caring. People received person-centred care and support based upon their own specific needs. People were content and comfortable in their home and stated they were happy with the way they were looked after. They reported that the staff were kind to them and listened to what they had to say. The staff team were fully aware of each person’s specific needs. Many of the staff team were local, knew the local people they looked after and therefore shared a lot of history with them. The staff were seen to treat people in a warm and respectful manner.

The service was responsive to people’s care and support needs. Their care plans were regularly reviewed and amended to take account of changes in care needs. The staff team made requests via the GP to other health and social care professionals as appropriate, in a timely manner. The service would endeavour to look after people who became very ill or were receiving palliative care. The service would work in partnership with family and healthcare professionals to achieve this.

People were offered a range of activities. People and their families were encouraged to make their views known about all aspects of the service and were listened to. The registered manager implemented changes where appropriate.

The service was well led. The registered manager had worked at the home for many years with the previous owners and had now taken on the management role. They and the senior staff team provided good leadership for the staff team. The service had good quality assurance systems in place with regular audits being undertaken, however, records must be available for inspection at all times. Audits identified any action required to make improvements.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This is the first inspection of this service since it was registered with new care providers in December 2018.

Why we inspected

This was the service’s first planned inspection.

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.