Archived: Bollingbroke House

Updated 6 March 2021

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of CQC’s response to the coronavirus pandemic we are looking at the preparedness of care homes in relation to infection prevention and control. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection control and prevention measures the provider has in place.

This inspection took place on 26 February 2021 and was announced.

Updated 6 March 2021

About the service:

Bollingbroke House is a care home that provides accommodation for people who require personal care. The home can accommodate up to 33 people. At the time of this inspection there were 21 people using the service.

People’s experience of using this service:

People told us they felt safe living at Bollingbroke House. Risks to people were assessed and kept under review so staff knew how to support people safely. All staff knew what action to take if they were concerned about a person’s safety. People using the service, their relatives and staff told us any concerns would be acted upon promptly.

People received their medicines as prescribed, from staff who were trained in medicines administration.

There were enough staff on each shift to meet people’s needs. Staff told us they were able to care for people in an unrushed manner.

The premises were undergoing some refurbishment at the time of this inspection. This was welcomed by people using the service, their relatives and staff who all told us improvements were needed to the home environment. People could not easily access the garden area however the manager had plans in place to improve accessibility.

People were supported to eat a balanced diet. People told us they enjoyed the food, however they said they did not have a choice of hot options at lunch time. The manager agreed to review this.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. We observed staff ask for consent before providing people with care.

People were cared for by staff who knew them well. People told us staff were always kind and caring and treated them well. We observed staff treat people with dignity and respect throughout this inspection.

People told us staff supported them with their health needs and were quick to refer them to other professionals when necessary.

People were asked to provide information about their life history and their preferences for receiving care. This information was recorded in their care plan. This helped staff to provide personalised care to each person. People were involved in developing their care plan during a pre-admission assessment process, however people’s ongoing involvement in reviews of their care was not clearly recorded on the care planning system.

People told us they did not have enough to do to keep them occupied throughout the day. We saw some activities had taken place recently and some people had been supported to access the community, however improvements were required in this area. We have made a recommendation about the development of activity provision in the home.

The provider had a complaints procedure in place. People knew how to complain and were confident any concerns they raised would be acted upon. People told us the manager had swiftly acted upon any minor issues they raised.

Without exception, we received positive feedback about how the home was run by the new manager. People using the service, their relatives and staff all told us the manager was approachable and they had made a positive impact on the service since they had started working at the service.

The manager and provider monitored the quality of the service by completing a range of audits. The manager had made improvements to the service as a result of the audits they completed. They had a clear plan in place for the further improvements that were required.

The manager made themselves accessible to people using the service, their relatives and staff so they could share any feedback or concerns about the service. They planned to hold resident and relative meetings to obtain feedback about the service. Surveys were also completed to obtain feedback from people, relatives, staff and visiting professionals and the results were used to improve the service.

More information is in the full report.

Rating at last inspection:

At the last inspection the service was rated good (published 8 November 2016).

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating awarded at the last inspection.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor this service. We plan to complete a further inspection 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