- Care home
Archived: Bethany Homestead
We served a warning notice on Bethany Homestead on 30 January 2025 for failing to meet the regulations related to good governance.
Assessment report published 2 May 2025
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of Assessment 21 to 29 January 2025. The service is a residential care home providing personal care for up to 38 older people living with dementia, physical disability and people with sensory impairments. At the time of our inspection there were 32 people using the service. The provider failed to have systems in place to assess, manage or mitigate environmental risks. The provider failed to have systems in place to always assess and provide plans of care to meet people’s needs. The provider failed to have systems to manage the development of their staff to ensure they could provide safe care and communicate effectively with people living with dementia. The provider failed to act upon outcomes from safeguarding concerns or implement conditions that were placed on people’s deprivation of liberty. The provider failed to have systems to ensure people’s mental capacity had been assessed for the use of bed rails and receiving care. The provider had employed a consultant to overhaul the systems and management of the home in 2023/4, and then employed a manager to manage the home since May 2024. The manager had developed the staff team and implemented systems to manage the service, however, these took time to be implemented and some systems were not fully developed. The provider had not ensured there was enough oversight or support to implement and embed all governance systems.The provider was in breach of the legal regulations relating to safe environments, safeguarding, deprivation of liberty safeguards, nutrition and hydration. The provider was previously in breach of the legal regulations in relation to governance, at this inspection the provider had not made the required improvements and continued to be in breach of this regulation. This service is being placed in special measures. The purpose of special measures is to ensure that services providing inadequate care make significant improvements. Special measures provide a framework within which we use our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care and provide a timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of the care they provide.
People's experience of this service
Feedback from people and their relatives was mixed. People told us their families were kept informed of any changes, a person said, “even down to medication changes.” Some relatives told us communication with the service was not always positive. Not all relatives were made aware of resident’s and relative’s meetings as they did not use email and had not been informed by any other method.
People told us they had not been involved in planning or reviewing their care.
Peoples’ care was not always responsive, and people at times had to wait for assistance. One person told us, “The call bell isn’t always answered straight away, but they always come.”
Whilst people mainly told us staff were friendly and kind, we observed some staff did not always communicate in a compassionate way. One person told us they preferred the way they were cared for by some staff more than others, they said, “You have to take the rough with the smooth.” However, people told us they felt safe, and staff knew them well. A person said, “Everyone [staff] is really approachable anytime.”
People were happy with the home and their access to the chapel. A person told us, “I go to the chapel once a week.”
Some people could not directly tell us about their experience. We used observation to assess whether they received good care.