Barrington House

Updated 10 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

The inspection was undertaken by one inspector.

Service and service type

Barrington House 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 had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.

Notice of inspection

We gave a short period of notice for the inspection. This was to establish the safest and most appropriate way of carrying out our inspection visit during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What we did before the inspection

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.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service. We looked at the notifications we had received for this service. Notifications are information about important events the service is required to send us by law. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people and two family members. We spoke with three members of staff including the registered manager, the deputy manager and a care worker. We reviewed a range of records. This included people’s care records and multiple medication records We reviewed records that included care plans, risk assessments and medicine administration records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures and quality assurance systems.

After the inspection

We spoke to two care workers by telephone. We contacted six professionals to seek their feedback on their experiences working with the service. We contacted two relatives to seek their feedback on the service.

Updated 10 June 2021

About the service

Barrington House is a residential care home providing accommodation for people with learning disabilities who require personal care. The home cares for adults and older people. Barrington House is registered to provide care and support for up to 21 people. At the time of the inspection there were 18 people were using the service. Accommodation was provided on the ground and first floor. People's needs were varied and included support with general age-related conditions. Some people had more specialist needs associated with diabetes, autism and epilepsy.

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

People and their relatives told us they were happy with the service they received. They described the care workers as kind and caring and said the management team were visible and committed.

The registered manager had addressed the areas identified for improvement following the last inspection. For example, systems for managing and monitoring diabetes had been reviewed and were now effective. Incidents were reviewed and safeguarding concerns had been appropriately identified and escalated in line with the provider’s policy.

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.

Systems for monitoring quality and managing risks had been improved and embedded. There were arrangements to support governance and to provide management oversight. Risk assessments and care plans guided staff in how to provide care safely and in the way the person preferred. There were enough suitable staff employed to ensure people were safe.

Appropriate infection control procedures for the COVID19 pandemic were in place to keep people safe. Staff had received additional training and used appropriate Personal Protective Equipment.

People and relatives were happy with how responsive staff were to their needs. Staff and management knew people very well and were proactive in responding to changing health and care needs.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

This service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right support:

• Model of care and setting maximises people’s choice, control and independence

Right care:

• Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human rights

Right culture:

• Ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives

Staff promoted choice, independence and inclusion. Care plans were person centred and reflected individual’s needs and wishes. People were supported to understand information about their care which promoted their equal rights and maximised their choice and control. The ethos of staff promoted personalised support that was inclusive.

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 requires improvement (published 5 December 2019). 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.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous 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.

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 9 and 10 July 2019. 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, good governance and person-centred care.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions of Safe, Responsive and Well-led which contain those requirements. We also looked at the Key Question of Caring.

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 changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

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

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.