• Care Home
  • Care home

Bracken Tor House

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

11 Brandize Park, Okehampton, Devon, EX20 1EQ (01837) 55209

Provided and run by:
Care Worldwide (Devon) Limited

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 3 May 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

One adult social care inspector

Service and service type:

Bracken Tor is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. The service accommodates up to 7 people. At the time of our visit there were 6 people using the service.

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:

The inspection was unannounced

What we did:

Before the inspection we reviewed information held on our systems. This included notifications we had received from the service. A notification is information about important events, which the service is required by law to send us.

Providers are required to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. The provider had returned a Provider Information Return (PIR) in February 2019.

During inspection we spoke with four people, one relative who was visiting the home, the registered manager and three staff. We reviewed written documentation including:

• Two care records including their medicine administration records

• Two staff records including training records

• Staff rotas

• Training Records

• Supervision and appraisal records

• Policies and procedures

• Audits and quality assurance reports

• Records of accidents, incidents and complaints

After the inspection, the registered manager sent us further documentation we had requested. This included confirmation about actions taken in respect of an application made for a Deprivation of Liberties Authorisation for one person.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 3 May 2019

About the service: Bracken Tor is residential care home which provides accommodation and personal care for a maximum of seven adults who live with a learning disability and/or autism. The service is also registered to provide personal care to people in their own homes. This part of the service is known as Reach Out At the time of the inspection, six people were living at Bracken Tor and one other person stayed regularly for short breaks of respite care. There was no-one receiving personal care while in their own homes from Reach Out. The registered manager said the Reach Out service was providing support to people to do activities in the community. They said two of these people required support with personal care during these activities but staff were not supporting them with personal care in their home. CQC does not regulate personal care unless it is carried out in the person’s home. Therefore, we did not inspect any aspect of the service provided by Reach Out.

The service was a four-storey house in a residential area of Okehampton. The home was in keeping with other residential properties in the local area.

People’s experience of using this service:

• The service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting people’s choice and independence. People were encouraged to live as independently as possible.

• People were encouraged to access activities they enjoyed both in the home and through inclusion in the local community.

• Care records reflected the risks, needs and preferences for each person. Care plans described how staff should work with people to meet each person’s individual requirements. Daily notes described how staff were following care plans.

• Where people were subject to restrictions to ensure their safety, this was not always in line with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. However, after the inspection, the registered manager provided evidence they had acted to address this.

• People were supported by staff who were recruited safely and underwent an induction to ensure they understood the principles of good care. Staff were expected to update training at regular intervals.

• People were supported by staff who were supervised and appraised to ensure they had opportunities to reflect on their work.

• People were protected from the risks of abuse by staff who were understood how to keep vulnerable people safe.

• People received their medicines from staff who had been trained to administer them safely.

• Where people did not have good verbal skills, they were supported by staff who understood how to communicate with them using appropriate methods.

• People were involved in choosing and preparing meals they liked and were encouraged to eat healthily.

• The home was clean and well maintained.

• People were encouraged to select the décor and furnishings for their bedrooms. People were also involved in decisions about the décor of communal areas.

• Families and friends were welcomed into the home and encouraged to visit people at times to suit them.

• People, their relatives and staff were involved in developing and improving the service.

• There was an experienced manager in post who had been registered with the Care Quality Commission for a number of years. They stayed up to date with best practice and guidance through involvement with external groups.

• There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service. Where issues were identified, action was taken to address them.

Rating at last inspection: Good (The last report was published on 13 October 2016)

Why we inspected: This was a planned comprehensive inspection based on previous ratings

Follow up: Going forward we will continue to monitor this service and plan to inspect in line with our re-inspection schedule for those services rated Good.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk