Brooklands Nursing Home

Updated 25 December 2020

The inspection

This was a targeted inspection prompted by specific concerns we had received about the quality of care people received. These concerns indicated people may be at risk of harm. During the inspection we looked at some elements of the key questions of Safe and Well-Led. This included risks, staffing levels and competency, accidents and incidents and the culture within the service.

Whilst at the inspection, we also completed an infection prevention and control assessment. This was part of a thematic review which is seeking to identify examples of good practice in infection prevention and control.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

Service and service type

Brooklands 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 did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that the provider was legally responsible for how the service was run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This was an announced inspection. We announced the inspection on the day of inspection to discuss the safety of people, staff and inspectors with reference to 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. This was because this was a targeted inspection prompted due to specific concerns received.

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with four people who used the service and three relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with four members of staff including the provider, the deputy manager and care staff.

We reviewed a range of records. This included six people’s care records and medicines records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures..

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We asked the provider to remedy some shortfalls we identified, such as the personal evacuation information for people and gaps in staff training.

Updated 25 December 2020

About the service

Brooklands Nursing Home is a care home which provides nursing care and accommodation.. The service is set over two floors and has communal lounge areas on both floors and a dining area on the ground floor. Lifts connect both levels. Most people living at Brooklands are living with dementia or have a nursing need. The service can accommodate up to 29 people. At the time of our inspection 19 people were living at the service.

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

People said they felt safe living at Brooklands and staff were kind to them. However, people said at times they had to wait a long time for staff and staff said they were rushed. The provider took action in relation to this following our inspection. Although there was some good information relating to risks to people, we found people’s pressure mattresses were not always on the correct setting and people’s call bells were not within their reach. This could leave people at risk of coming to harm.

People received the medicines they needed, but we identified some shortfalls in medicines records. In addition, the provider did not meet the full requirements in relation to the recruitment of new staff. We raised these with the provider at our inspection who took action in response.

People and their relatives said staff were kind and in particular the deputy manager was very supportive of them. We did identify however that staff were not always receiving the training and support they should expect in order to equip them for the role.

Where people had an incident or accident these were responded to, lessons learnt and action taken to prevent further accidents. Staff knew how to recognise and report any safeguarding concerns.

Changes had been made to the service during the pandemic to help reduce any risk of infection. We had no concerns about the infection prevention and control practices of staff.

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 Good (report published 29 August 2018).

Why we inspected

This targeted inspection was prompted due to concerns we received about some aspects of the service. This included medicines management, unsafe care for people and management oversight. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns. The overall rating for the service has not changed following this targeted inspection and remains Good.

CQC have introduced targeted inspections to follow up on Warning Notices or to check specific concerns. They do not look at an entire key question, only the part of the key question we are specifically concerned about. Targeted inspections do not change the rating from the previous inspection. This is because they do not assess all areas of a key question.

At this inspection we reviewed selected Key Lines of Enquiry in the key questions of Safe and Well-Led only and this report covers our findings in relation to those.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Brooklands Nursing Home 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 when we will carry out a fully comprehensive inspection looking at all key questions. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.