• Care Home
  • Care home

Brownlee Court

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Ormesby Road, Middlesbrough, Cleveland, TS3 7SF (01642) 225546

Provided and run by:
Atlas Care Homes Limited

Important: The provider of this service changed. See old profile

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 10 March 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.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This included checking the provider was meeting COVID-19 vaccination requirements. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

Two inspectors and an Expert by Experience carried out this inspection. 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

Brownlee Court 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. Brownlee Court is a care home with nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from Middlesbrough local authority and professionals who work with the service, such as an NHS IPC team. We also contacted Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with nine people using the service and eight relatives. We also spoke with 16 staff. This included the nominated individual (The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider); a director, a clinical quality manager, the registered manager, a deputy manager, an administrator, two senior care workers, four care workers and four agency care workers. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We reviewed three care records and a further six medicine administration records. We reviewed two staff records in relation to recruitment and induction and the training matrix for all staff. We also reviewed records related to the day to day running of the service including policies and procedures.

After the inspection

We continued to review evidence received after the inspection visit.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 10 March 2022

About the service

Brownlee Court is a residential and nursing care home for up to 116 young adults and older adults with physical and mental health conditions. It is a purpose-built three storey building located in a residential area. At the time of the inspection, 47 people were using the service.

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

People told us they felt safe living at the service. Staff were described as ‘exemplary, going the extra mile.’ Risks were understood and managed. There was enough staff on duty, however the deployment of agency staff needed to be reviewed. Medicines were safely managed. The home was clean throughout; improved consistency with using PPE was needed.

The provider had identified where improvements needed to be made and had taken steps to address this. The leadership team had been strengthened and review of quality assurance measures was underway. The staff team were positive about each other and felt listened to and supported by the management team.

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 (published 23 February 2021).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to people’s safety, staffing levels, leadership and quality assurance. The inspection was also prompted in part to two incidents which had taken place prior to the inspection. 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. This included checking the provider was meeting COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service remains good.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Brownlee Court on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.