Birchwood Court Residential Care Home

Updated 8 September 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

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 an inspector and two Experts 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.

Service and service type

Birchwood Court Residential Care Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Birchwood Court Residential Care Home is a care home without nursing care. 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 a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

We also reviewed the information we held about the service. This included any statutory notifications received. Statutory notifications are specific pieces of information about events, which the provider is required to send to us by law. We sought feedback from the local authority contracts monitoring and safeguarding adults' teams and reviewed the information they provided. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We reviewed documentation, inspected the safety of the premises and carried out observations in communal areas.

We spoke with three people who used the service, 16 relatives, and 12 members of staff including the registered manager, a member of the domestic team and care support staff.

We reviewed the care records for three people, medicine records for four people and the recruitment records for three members of staff. We looked at a range of records. This included staffing rotas, training records, meeting minutes, policies and procedures, environmental safety and information relating to the governance of the service.

Updated 8 September 2022

About the service

Birchwood Court Residential Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care to up to 43 people. The service provides support to people aged 65 years and over, some of whom are living with a dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 37 people using the service.

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

People and their relatives were positive about the support provided by staff. People were happy and felt safe living at the home. One person said, “I am quite happy here, all hunky dory.” Relatives were very pleased about the positive effect staff were having on people. Their comments included, “I can't thank the staff enough, they have all been absolutely fantastic” and “The staff here are lovely.”

People had person-centred care plans which reflected their needs and choices. People and their relatives were involved in their care planning and during reviews. People received their medicines safely. Staff were suitably trained and had their competencies assessed regularly. There was enough staff to safely support people.

Risks to people had been fully assessed and mitigated to help keep people safe. People's care plans were individual and included involvement from other healthcare professionals.

Staff wore PPE and followed government guidance in relation to COVID-19. The home was clean and suitably decorated.

The registered manager had an effective quality and assurance system in place which allowed them to monitor and improve the quality and safety of the care provided. People, relatives and staff were asked for feedback to help improve the care provided. Lessons learned from incidents were also used to improve the service provided.

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.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 15 September 2020 and this is the first inspection.

The last rating for the service under the previous provider was good, published on 20 February 2020.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

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, which will help inform when we next inspect.