We carried out a review of the data available to us about Bernash Care Home on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Bernash Care Home, you can give feedback on this service.
Bernash is a care home providing accommodation and personal care or up to 23 people. At the time of the inspection, 20 people were living at the home.
People's experience of using this service and what we found
People's individual risks had been identified. Risk assessments were in place with regular reviews carried out to help keep people safe. Medicines were being managed safely and people received their medicines as prescribed. Effective infection control measures were in place. The principles of the Mental Capacity Act were adhered to when necessary. There were effective staff recruitment and selection processes in place. People and the staff we spoke with confirmed staffing levels were good. There were enough staff to support people and the staff worked well as a team.
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.
The registered manager provided effective leadership. They led by example and had a visible presence, with a good understanding of the day to day oversight of the home. The registered manager and staff team acted when learning from any incidents that may have occurred. Surveys to feedback on the quality of the care provided were completed by people and relatives.
Systems were in place to oversee and improve the quality of care, which helped to promote people's safety and wellbeing. The registered manager was supported by senior staff and a stable staff team. They worked in partnership with health and social care professionals to promote positive outcomes for people.
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 (published 21 February 2020). The rating at this inspection remains good.
Why we inspected
We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding. We inspected two 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 home remains good based on the findings of 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.
Follow up
We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Bernash Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Bernash Care Home is registered to provide personal care and accommodation for up to 23 people who live with dementia type illnesses. On the day of our visit there were 23 people living at the home.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People continued to be supported by staff who knew how to keep them safe. Medicines were managed and given to people safely. Medicines policies and procedures were up to date and easily available for staff. There was also best practice guidance.
Emergency procedures and contingency plans were in place. These help to keep people safe in an emergency.
To further support people to stay safe, staff had easy access to personal protective equipment (PPE). Infection control guidance was in place and staff had completed training in this area.
Safe recruitment procedures were in place and staff were supported in their role with appropriate training and supervision.
The staff and management team worked closely with health and social care professionals for the best outcomes for the people they supported. People continued to be well supported and their full range of needs had been assessed. Detailed and informative care plans and risk assessments were in place to support staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe.
Relatives had nothing but very high praise for the home. One comment was “We love it, X likes it she's comfortable with them. If she’s a bit upset they will go and see her straight away. We love it here, we had heard a lot about this place and how good it was, they are all lovely there isn't one of them we don’t like it’s a lovely little friendly place this.”
People were supported to receive highly personalised care. Care plans were very individualised and people and families were involved in regularly reviewing and updating them with the staff.
People really benefited because the staff team were very stable and had built up very close relationships with them and their relatives. They had a very good insight about how to meet each person's individual needs and really understood their routines and preferences.
People's privacy and dignity were very well respected. People enjoyed the food and their dietary needs were identified. Ways to support people with these were in place. People were well supported by staff who understood how to support them to eat a healthy diet.
People took part in a varied and dynamic range of activities. People were actively encouraged to maintain contact with relatives and friends.
The quality of care and support was fully checked and monitored by a range of audit systems in place. These identified areas for development and improvement. When these were picked up swift action was taken to improve the care and service further.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported support 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, (report published April 2017)
Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Bernash is a care home registered to provide personal care and accommodation for up to 23 people, some of whom were living with dementia. The home is located in a residential area in Bristol. There were 22 people living there on the day of our visit.
There was a registered manager for the service. 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.
Some areas of medicines administration recording were not safe. This meant there was a risk that some people were not always being given their medicines correctly. Other aspects of medicines management in the home were found to be safe.
The provider's governance system for auditing the service was being used in a way that made it effective. There had been action taken when medicines concerns were identified.
Staff demonstrated that they were knowledgeable about their responsibility to protect people from possible abuse. They were able to explain how to recognise abuse and report concerns following the provider’s safeguarding procedure. Where risks to people were identified suitable actions were put in place to minimise the risk of people being harmed when receiving care.
Staff were kind and caring, and they supported people to live a varied and fulfilling life. Staff understood the needs of the people they supported and knew how to provide them with effective care.
People were supported to eat and drink enough to be healthy and were able to eat a varied diet. People were consulted in menu planning. Meal preferences and individual preferences were included in the menu options available. Choices were available every day at each meal time.
The staff understood the needs of the people they supported. People were well supported so that they could make choices about their care and to become more independent in their lives.
Staff were being well supported in their work. This was in an informal way and by formal staff supervision meetings. These were up to date for all staff. This meant there was an effective system in place ensure that staff were provided with the support they needed to provide care that meet properly met the needs of people at the home.
Care plans were up to date and helped guided staff so that they knew what actions were to be followed so that they were able to meet the full range needs of the people who lived at the home. Staff were aware of what was written in each person’s care records. The staff knew it was important to provide care that was flexible to each individual and met their needs.
People knew how to make a complaint and make their views known .The provider was actively seeking the views of people and their families. The provider had uploaded details of the service on to an independent rating website. This was to seek objective feedback about the home. Suggestions were acted upon and changes were made to the services when needed. New activities were introduced for example as well as new menus.
Staff spoke positively of the registered manager. The staff told us that the registered manager and provider gave strong and supportive leadership. Staff felt there was an open culture at the home and they felt able to raise any concerns and these would be dealt with properly.