Bramhall

Bramhall is a residential care home providing personal care to up to 38 people. The service provides support to older people, some of whom may be living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 29 people using the service.

People’s experience of the service and what we found:

There were enough staff at the home to keep people safe and to meet their needs in a timely manner. Risks to people had been identified and care and equipment were provided to keep people safe. Medicines were safely managed and administered to people in line with their prescription. The home was clean and staff worked in line with guidance to minimise the risk of infection.

Staff had received training in how to keep people safe from abuse and the registered manager worked with the local safeguarding agency to keep people safe. They registered manager was open and honest with people when incidents occurred and took action to reduce the likelihood of similar incidents occurring in the future.

The registered manager had systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of care provided. This included gathering the views of people using the service. Additionally, the registered manager kept up to date with changes in best practice and legislation to ensure people received the safest care possible.

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.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (15 March 2018).

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding.

We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

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

Follow Up

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

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

Bramhall accommodates 38 older people some of who may be living with dementia in one adapted building. Bramhall has recently had a new extension which is joined to the existing home and this has supported them to increase their numbers.

There was a registered manager in place. However, they were in the process of handing over their role to a new manager who had also applied to be registered. ‘A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.’

This is the second consecutive inspection where the home has been rated as Good.

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 support this practice. People were able to access advocates to speak for them when needed and were supported to be involved in planning their care and able to make choices about their lives. People’s privacy and dignity were respected.

Staff were kind and caring. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs and safe recruitment practices ensured that they were safe to work with people living at the home. Staff received training and support which enabled them to care for people safely. Staff had received training in how to keep people safe from harm and were clear on the actions they should take if they had any concerns.

People received an assessment when they moved into the home and environmental and care risks were identified and action was taken to keep people safe. Care plans recorded the care people needed and were regularly reviewed to stay up to date. Medicines were safely managed and the food provided supported people’s wellbeing. Systems were in place to support the sharing of information across services and people were supported to access appropriate healthcare when needed. People’s wishes for the end of their lives were respected and support from palliative care professionals was available.

The provider had completed a new extension and had provided a bright and pleasant environment for people to live in. They had incorporated the use of technology to keep people safe. The home was clean and staff had received training in keeping people safe from infection.

The home was well managed and there were systems in place to monitor the quality of care provided. Lessons were learnt from any incidents and action taken to stop them reoccurring. The feedback from people living in the home was used to improve the care they received. The provider had put systems in place to support staff to provide care in line with good practice. Staff had received training to enable them to provide support to people which met their cultural and personal needs. Complaints were investigated and responded to appropriately.