We carried out a review of the data available to us about Bridgewood House on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Bridgewood House, you can give feedback on this service.
Bridgewood House is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to people aged 65 and over, some of whom may be living with dementia. The home is registered to provide care to 70 people. At the time of the inspection there were 59 people using the service.
The home is a modern purpose-built building covering three floors. There are six units, two on each floor, named after local parks and the home refers to each unit as a 'park'. One park provided nursing care and the other five parks provided personal care with no nursing. We have referred to the units as 'parks' throughout this report.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
We found there had been significant improvements in the governance and quality of care following the last inspection. The service was more homely and welcoming. We saw warm and friendly interactions between staff and people. People we spoke with were positive about the care and support they received at Bridgewood House. People told us staff were caring and always on-hand to help them. Relatives told us they felt there had been improvements and they were happy with the care their family members received. One relative said staff were, “Worth their weight in gold.”
People’s risks were clearly documented and managed and staff had appropriate guidance to keep people safe. Staff had received safeguarding training and were aware of their responsibilities around recognising and reporting concerns of abuse. People received their medicines safely and on time. Staff were recruited safely, and all relevant background checks were completed. There was a more regular staff team in place since the last inspection. Whilst the home continued to use agency staff, these were regular, so people received a continuity of care. There were robust procedures in place to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. The standard of infection control was regularly monitored, and staff had access to appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Staff were supported by regular supervision, annual appraisal and training. People were supported to maintain a healthy balanced diet and any specialist diets were catered for. 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 and relatives felt staff were kind and caring and promoted people’s independence where possible. People told us they felt staff treated them with dignity and respect.
People had person centred care plans that documented their support needs, likes and dislikes. There was a full timetable of activities on offer within the home which had been created in collaboration with people. Any complaints were clearly documented and responded to appropriately. There were person centred plans in place around people’s end of life wishes which people, where they were able, and relatives had full input into.
Since the last inspection there had been a change in the senior management team and there was a new registered manager in post. The new registered manager had implemented a lot of changes around record keeping such as care plans and auditing systems. Overall governance of the home had greatly improved. People felt the registered manager was approachable. There were numerous regular audits that maintained and monitored care provided. People were fully involved through residents’ meetings and one-to-one meetings to give their feedback on their care.
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 the service under the previous provider was requires improvement (published 18 November 2019).
At our last inspection we identified breaches of regulations 12 and 16 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. These related to a failure to adequately assess and mitigate people’s known risks, the safe management of medicines and acting on complaints. 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.
At our last inspection we also identified a continuing breach of regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 around good governance. Due to the significant concerns, we issued a warning notice against the provider and registered manager that was in post at the time of the inspection. A warning notice is enforcement that identifies the significant concerns found and gives the provider a specific time frame in which to address them. At this inspection we found vast 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.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Bridgewood 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.