Archived: Beech Tree Care Home Limited

Updated 29 July 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.

This was a focused inspection to check whether the provider had met the requirements of the Requirement Notices in relation to Regulation 15 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 Premises and equipment and Regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 Good governance.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Beech Tree Care Home 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.

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

This inspection was unannounced. Inspection activity started on 25 June 2021 and ended on 30 June 2021. We visited the office location on 25 June 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. 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. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

During the inspection we spoke with one person who used the service, one member of staff and the registered manager. We reviewed a range of records including four people’s care records and medicines records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment. We reviewed the provider’s quality audits and undertook a visual inspection of hygiene throughout the care home.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.

Updated 29 July 2021

About the service

Beech Tree Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care for people with mental health needs. The service is registered to support up to nine people. At the time of our inspection six people lived in the one adapted building.

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

People were protected from the risk and spread of infection by the hygiene practices of staff and the new ehanced cleaning programme they had implemented. The risks of people experiencing avoidable harm were reduced because known risks were assessed and plans were in place to mitigate them. The registered manager and staff were trained to identify and take action if they suspected people were at risk of abuse.

Staff supported people to take their mediciens safely. The registered manager ensured that medicnies records were in good order. Health professionals reviewed people’s medicines and worked in partnership with staff to support people’s mental and physical health needs.

Recruitment practices were robust. This meant the registered manager had assured themselves that all staff were safe and suitable to provide care and support.

The environment of thecare home was safe. Window restrictors were in place to provent people falling out of them. Potentially harmful cleaning products were secured and inaccessible to people and visitors. There were fire doors throughout the building along with smoke detectors and a fire alarm.

A new overarching auditing process was being implemented by the registered manager. This enabled an at-a-glance check of individual audits and the the completion of actions arising from them. The views of people, staff, relatives and healthcare professionals were sought and used to shape the service.

The registered manager and care staff worked collaboratively with health and social care professionals to meet people’s changing needs.

Rating at last inspection (and update)

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 29 July 2019) and there were two breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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 coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from Requires Improvement to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

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

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.