Birchwood House Rest Home

Updated 14 April 2021

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of CQC's response to the COVID-19 pandemic we are looking at the preparedness of care homes in relation to infection prevention and control. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection control and prevention measures the provider has in place.

This inspection took place on 01 March 2021 and was announced.

Updated 14 April 2021

Birchwood House Rest 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.

Birchwood House Rest Home can accommodate up to 38 people. The service has 32 single bedrooms and usually only accommodates 32 people unless couples request shared accommodation. There were 23 people living at the service at the time of our inspection. People had varied communication needs and abilities. Most of the people could talk with us about their experiences.

At our last inspection we rated the service as Good. At this inspection, we found the evidence continued to support the rating of Good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

At the last inspection in August 2015, we recommended that the provider identified training for staff in ancillary roles to ensure that they could support people living in the service. At the inspection, we found that the provider had acted on our recommendations and ancillary staff were able to access additional training.

People were protected from the risk of harm. Staff had received safeguarding training and there were effective safeguarding procedures in place.

The provider and registered manager had good oversight of the service. The registered manager operated and promoted an open and transparent culture. Staff felt their views were considered about how the service operated.

Staff were kind and caring and treated people with dignity and respect. They had taken the time to get to know each person well and provide the care they wanted in the way they preferred.

People and their relatives had been asked about their views and experiences of using the service. One person told us “Amazing and I know I’ve picked the right home, it feels family orientated when you walk in, no regrets I’m very happy.”

Individual risks associated with people's care and support had been identified and risk assessments were in place to help manage these effectively. Risk assessments provided staff with detailed information on how to mitigate risks where possible.

Safe recruitment practices were followed to help ensure potential staff were of good character. There were sufficient numbers of staff deployed to meet people's needs in a timely way.

Staff received regular support which included individual supervisions and team meetings. Staff felt supported in their roles. Staff completed an induction when they commenced work at the service and had access to a range of on-going training. Staff were positive about the training they received.

Peoples medicines were managed safely. People received their medicines in the ways their healthcare professionals had prescribed and in a way that best suited their needs. People were offered a balanced diet of food they liked.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The registered manager had informed CQC of significant events that had happened at the service, so that we could check that appropriate action had been taken. They had learnt from these events and made improvements to the service.

Services are required to prominently display their CQC performance rating. The provider had displayed the rating in the entrance hall. The rating can be found on their website.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.