Brook Court

Updated 18 March 2023

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 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

The inspection team at Brook Court consisted of 2 inspectors 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. A medicines inspector supported the inspection off site.

Service and service type

Brook 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. Brook 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.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced on the first day. We announced our intention to return to the home for the second day of the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 07 February 2023 and ended on 27 February 2023. We visited the location’s service on 07 February 2023 and 08 February 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority. 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 of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spent time seeing how people were cared for and spoke with 13 people living at the home and 1 relative, to find out their views about the care provided.

We spoke with 18 staff who worked at the home, including the manager, a unit manager and 3 nursing staff. We spoke with 5 care staff and an activities staff member. We also spoke with 7 ancillary staff. The ancillary staff included maintenance, catering, and domestic staff. In addition, we spoke with a provider representative.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 6 people’s care records, multiple medication records, and records showing what support staff had given to people so their clinical needs would be met. We looked at records relating to the quality, safety and management of the home. These included checks undertaken on people’s experience of living at the home, the premises, staff competency, and staff recruitment records. We reviewed resident’s and relatives’ survey reports and key policies and procedures. We also reviewed a range of records showing how information was communicated to staff across different shifts and after incidents, including minutes of staff clinical and care meetings.

Updated 18 March 2023

About the service

Brook Court is a care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 67 people. The service provides support to younger and older people who may live with physical disability, dementia, mental health needs or learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder. At the time of our inspection there were 49 people using the service. Brook Court accommodates people in one adapted building.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

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

Right Support:

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The provider gave people care and support in a safe, clean, well equipped, well-furnished and well-maintained environment that met their sensory and physical needs. Where people wanted support, staff enabled people to access specialist health and social care support in the community. Staff supported people with their medicines.

Right Care:

People received kind and compassionate care. Staff understood and responded to their individual needs. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. There had been changes to the leadership at the home. People told us they now received support from staff who knew them well and understood how to keep them safe. People’s care, treatment and support plans reflected their range of needs and this promoted their wellbeing

Right Culture:

People received good care because of the ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of the management and staff. Staff knew and understood people well and were responsive, placing people’s wishes, needs and rights at the heart of everything they did. People and those important to them were involved in planning their care. Staff evaluated the quality of support provided to people, involving the person, their families and other professionals as appropriate. Staff ensured risks of a closed culture were minimised so that people received support based on transparency, respect and inclusivity.

The registered manager planned to further develop their systems to ensure people’s care needs continued to be met. The manager had re-introduced checks on the quality and safety of the care provided and staff competency, so they could be assured people received safe care which met their needs. People’s, relatives’ and staff’s views on the care provided were sought and opportunities for learning were identified. Systems had recommenced to ensure improvements driven through in people’s care.

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the management of the home and staffing. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, caring and well-led only.

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.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

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 has remained good based on the findings of this inspection.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was good (published 22 January 2020).

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.