Birkdale Residential Home

Updated 13 September 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

This inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

Birkdale Residential Home 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. Birkdale Residential Home is a care home without 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 a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

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 asked the local authority and Healthwatch for any information they had which would aid our inspection. Local authorities together with other agencies may have responsibility for funding people who used the service and monitoring its quality. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 2 people who used the service about their experience of the care provided and 2 relatives. We spoke with 6 staff including carers, domestic support, administration staff, maintenance staff and the registered manager. We spoke with the nominated individual on the phone. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 2 person’s care plans and records of medicines administration. We looked at a variety of documents relating to the management of the service, including quality monitoring checks. We confirmed the safe recruitment of 2 staff members.

Updated 13 September 2023

About the service

Birkdale Residential Home provides accommodation and personal care to up to 29 people. At the time of this inspection there were 26 people using the service. Some of whom were living with dementia.

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

People were at the risk of harm from preventable injury as the provider failed to ensure risks had been identified and mitigated.

People were at risk of exposure to infectious illness as the provider failed to ensure appropriate infection prevention and control practices were being followed.

The physical environment within which people lived did not support effective cleaning as equipment, fixtures and fittings were damaged, rusted or unprotected. Food items were not safely stored.

People did not always receive their medicines as prescribed.

The provider did not have effective systems in place to review incidents, accidents, or significant events to see if something could be done differently to keep people safe.

The provider did not have effective systems in place to identify improvements and drive good care. The management team and provider failed to keep themselves up to date with best practice in health and social care.

People were protected from the risks of ill-treatment and abuse as staff had been trained to recognise potential signs of abuse and understood what to do if they suspected harm or abuse.

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

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

Rating at last inspection.

The last rating for the service was good, published on 11 July 2019.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about the management of risk within the building. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions safe and well led.

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 changed from good to inadequate. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well led sections of this report.

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.

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

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to keeping people safe and with the overall management of the care provision at this inspection.

The overall rating for this service is ‘Inadequate’ and the service is therefore in ‘special measures.’ This means we will keep the service under review and, if we do not propose to cancel the provider’s registration, we will re-inspect within 6 months to check for significant improvements.

If the provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe and there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures. This will mean we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions the registration.

For adult social care services, the maximum time for being in special measures will usually be no more than 12 months. If the service has demonstrated improvements when we inspect it and it is no longer rated as inadequate for any of the five key questions it will no longer be in special measures.

Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect