The Beaufort Care Home

Updated 18 August 2023

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 carried out by 2 inspectors, a specialist advisor and an Expert-by-Experience. Our specialist advisor was a nurse who had expertise in supporting older people. An Expert-by-Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type.

The Beaufort 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.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. A new manager had worked at the home for 4 weeks and had submitted their application to register with us.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since our last inspection and sought feedback from the Integrated Care Board (ICB) who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 6 people who lived at the home, 5 people’s relatives and 1 person’s friend about their experiences of the care and support provided. We spoke with 11 members of staff including the manager, the providers support manager, the regional operations manager, an agency nurse and care assistants.

We looked at a range of people's care records and multiple medicine records. We reviewed records relating to the management of the service including, staff training data, fire safety records, some policies and procedures and the recruitment records for 3 staff members.

Updated 18 August 2023

About the service

The Beaufort Care Home is registered to provide personal and nursing care for up to 29 people aged 65 and over. Nursing care is provided. At the time of the inspection 16 people lived at the home and 1 of those people was in hospital.

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

The provider's systems and processes designed to identify shortfalls, and drive improvements still needed to be strengthened to ensure they were fully effective. The 2 continued breaches of regulation demonstrated more lessons needed to be learned to ensure people always received safe, good quality care. Management changes had occurred since our last inspection. The operations manager told us this was the reason progress had been slow. The new manager demonstrated commitment to improving outcomes for people and had clear plans in place to achieve this.

People told us they received their medicines when they needed them, but aspects of medicines safety continued to require improvement. The manager took some immediate actions to improve medicines safety and further improvement actions were planned.

The management of risks associated with people’s care had improved but further improvement was needed to demonstrate risks were always well managed. Risks associated with the environment were well managed.

More needed to be done to make sure people always received personalised care. The manager told us improving the content in care records was 1 of their main priorities. Staff knew people well and people had more opportunities to do things they enjoyed and were of interest to them.

Staff were recruited safely, and enough staff were available to provide the care and support people needed. The home was clean, but staff did not always work in line with the providers expectations to ensure infection prevention and control risks were minimised.

People continued to feel safe, and relatives told us safety had improved. Staff understood their responsibilities to keep people safe. Staff received an induction when they started work at the home and had completed the training, they needed to provide effective care.

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 spoke positively about the food available, and their dietary needs were catered for. Staff supported people to eat and drink to maintain a balanced diet. People had access to a range of health professionals which supported them to remain healthy and well.

Staff enjoyed working at the home. They demonstrated a caring approach and they spoke about people in a respectful way. People felt listened to and were happy with the care and support they received. People’s right to privacy was respected and their independence was promoted.

People and their relatives knew how to complain, and complaints received had been resolved in line with the providers policy. Feedback from people and their relatives was welcomed. The manager was exploring different ways to improve communication. Staff told us they felt supported, and the culture at the home was improving.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was inadequate (published 20 January 2023) and there were 4 breaches of regulation. 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 the provider remained in breach of 2 regulations.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe, responsive and well-led sections of this full report.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.

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.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified continued breaches in relation to safety and governance at this inspection. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will meet with the provider and also request an action plan from them to understand how they will make improvements. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress and continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.