Beechcroft House Residential Home

Updated 21 May 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

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 two inspectors.

Service and service type

Beechcroft House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

within their own family homes in the community.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We gave notice on arrival for the inspection from the car park so we could check the procedures in place for infection prevention control before entry.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection-

We were unable to speak directly with people who used the service. We spoke with three relatives about their loved one’s experience of the care provided. We spoke with five members of staff including the registered manager, deputy manager, senior care workers and care workers. We observed people receiving care to help us understand their experience.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at building repair records and the fire safety risk assessment.

Updated 21 May 2021

About the service

Beechcroft House is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to eight people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 25 people in one adapted building.

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

The provider had not ensured there was an effective fire safety risk assessment in place. Policies were not consistently up to date. The governance arrangements in the home were not consistently effective in identifying areas for improvement or capturing when action had been taken.

We have made a recommendation about window restrictors.

People were supported safely; risks were assessed, and plans put in place to reduce them. Staff understood how to protect people from abuse. There were enough staff to support people safely. Medicines were managed safely, and staff were following guidance for infection prevention control. When things went wrong there was a system in place to learn from this.

People, relatives and staff spoke positively about the home and the management team. There were systems in place to seek people’s views and the registered manager took opportunities to work in partnership with others and learn about new practices.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 06 August 2019).

Why we inspected

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

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

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.

The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

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.

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

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.