Archived: Branthwaite Nursing Home

We spoke to a number of people in the home and we discovered that they were feeling more satisfied with the way care was delivered. We also spoke to some relatives and to the local social work teams prior to the visit about the care delivery and the recording systems. They too said that they could see improvements in the service.

"My relative is better cared for and more settled because of the new management arrangements."

We found that the improvements to care and welfare had been sustained. We checked on nursing and personal care and we looked specifically at the care of people with dementia. We found that the delivery of care had improved and that people were more relaxed and responsive and that staff were more focussed on the care delivery that was detailed in care plans.

We saw that changes had been made to the records that care services need to keep. Most of the files had been reviewed and updated and were easier to read and follow. We asked the provider to continue to update these records but we saw that the improvements were making it easier for staff to deliver the care needed and to communicate needs well to other professionals.

We looked at the management of nutrition and hydration. A number of people had put on weight since our last visit, nutritional planning had improved and the catering team were better informed in relation to people's needs.

We looked at the management of medicines and we found some errors that had occurred since our last visit in August. We did, however, note that these matters had been discovered and dealt with by management. Suitable audits were ongoing and medicines management showed some improvement.

On the day of the visit the home was clean and reasonably orderly. Fire safety work was being undertaken.

Permanent staffing levels in the home for care staff were fairly stable. Staff were allocated to specific units to give more consistent care. There were still vacancies for nurses but the company were using agency nurses to good effect. Some new nurses had come into post. An acting manager was leading the team.

Considerable resources had been put into monitoring of quality in the service. Senior executives of the company had visited regularly and taken steps to improve quality. The acting manager was being supported to continue to look at quality on a daily basis.

The service was not compliant on record keeping. Care files needed updating.