Updated 12 December 2018
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team:
The inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type:
Brook Farm is a domiciliary care agency. It provides support and personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. There was registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
Notice of inspection:
This inspection took place on 16 November 2018 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.
What we did:
Before the inspection we reviewed the Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We also reviewed other information we held about the service as well as previous inspection reports and notifications we had received from the service. Notifications are information about important events that the service is legally required to submit to CQC.
During the inspection we visited the location’s office and spent time talking with the registered manager and the nominated individual (The nominated individual is employed as a director, manager or secretary of the organisation with responsibility for supervising the management of the regulated activity). Whilst the service provided support to several people, they only provided the regulated activity of personal care to one person as defined by CQC registration at the time of the inspection. We therefore inspected the systems and policies of the service to ensure that the service would be effective and equipped to support people with personal care as the service expanded.
We spoke with three staff members and looked at staff files relating to their training and personal development as well as the provider’s recruitment procedures. We reviewed a range of records including accident and incident reports and other records relating to the monitoring and management of the service. After the inspection we spoke to one person by telephone and received feedback about the service they received.