Brunswick Court Care Home

Updated 5 May 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.

Inspection team

The inspection team was made up of two adult social care inspectors, one medicine inspector and an Expert 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

Brunswick Court 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. Brunswick Court Care Home is a care home with 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 reviewed information we had received about the service since the last 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 used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with eight people who live at Brunswick Court and two relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with eight members of staff including the registered manager, clinical lead, nurse, senior care workers and care workers. We spoke with four professionals that are involved in the care at Brunswick Court. We reviewed a range of records. This included four people's care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.

Updated 5 May 2022

About the service

Brunswick Court Care Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 90 people. The service provides support to older people and people with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 62 people using the service.

The building consisted of three floors and a basement. Each floor had living facilities which included people's individual bedrooms with en-suite, dining rooms and lounges.

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

People felt the support received by staff was inconsistent and at times felt isolated which affected their wellbeing. Peoples care plans did not always allow the opportunity to detail what was important to the person. The provider had acknowledged this and put new software in place to rectify this.

The provider and registered manager had a governance system in place, which included various audits and monitoring, improvement and actions were identified, however actions were not always completed.

The registered manager had implemented a lot of changes since the last inspection. Systems had started to be used and there were clear outcomes from the quality assurance systems in place. However, at the time of the inspection these changes had only recently been implemented. The registered manager understood the need to ensure the quality of care continued, and to ensure the systems and culture of the service is sustained.

People and their relatives felt staff provided care that was safe, and systems were in place to report concerns. The staff team had been safely recruited. Systems were in place to report and respond to accidents and incidents.

People felt safe with the care they received, and staff were knowledgeable about when to report concerns to safeguard people. Risk assessments highlighted people's individual needs, and professionals were referred to when staff needed input for people for example, a dietician. Where things went wrong, this was shared with staff and lessons were learnt and changes implemented.

Medicines were given to people when they needed them, where discrepancies were identified these were actioned appropriately. Infection prevention control measures were in place and staff were wearing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).

The registered manager had built positive relationships with professionals and was dedicated in making sure people got input from health professionals when needed. Professionals commented on the management teams support.

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 this service was requires improvement (published 17 October 2020). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection whilst we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations, further improvements were required.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about medicine management. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

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.