• Care Home
  • Care home

Archived: Beechwood

29 Queens Road, Consett, County Durham, DH8 0BL

Provided and run by:
Derwent Care Limited

All Inspections

30 September 2014

During a routine inspection

We carried out an inspection on the 19 and 23 December 2013 and found improvements were required. The service did not always plan and deliver people's care safely and effectively which placed them at risk of receiving care which did not meet their needs. Following our inspection we asked the provider to send us a plan detailing how improvements would be made.

We received an action plan dated 28 January 2014 which stated the service would improve the quality of care planning, communication plans, as well as ensure each person had a stimulating range of activities to participate in.

We carried our recent inspection to ensure improvements had been made. We found care planning and risk assessment had improved. We also found people were supported with a range of stimulating activities and methods used to effectively communicate with people who had little or no speech had improved.

We spoke with three People using the service who told us "I have learnt new things, I am happy living here, I enjoy seeing friends and going out to the pub".

19, 23 December 2013

During a routine inspection

We spoke with two people who use the service, looked at the care records of three people and spoke with staff and senior managers of the home. Other people using the service due to their complex communication difficulties were not able to tell us their care experiences.

People we spoke with talked positively about the service and made comments such as "The staff are good, I like it," "I go out to clubs and parties which are arranged for me" and "I get to see my family, I am supported with this."

We looked at how people were involved in their care and found people were invited and did attend house meetings, people were included in any reviews of their care and were supported to access activities such as attending clubs and accessing the community.

We found people's needs were assessed but care was not always planned in line with their assessed needs. For example, people did not always have structured routines and were not always supported with developing positive behaviours.

People told us they felt safe and that they could inform staff if they did not. We found staff had received training and knowledge to ensure the risks of abuse were minimised.

We also looked at medication administration and found the service had put arrangements in place to ensure the safe keeping and administration of medication.

People were supported by sufficient staff who had received training appropriate to their role. We did find in some specialist areas such as active support and positive behaviour intervention staff required further knowledge and skill.

We found that people's care records were kept securely and fit for purpose.

1 June 2012

During a routine inspection

Because of the nature of their condition, a high proportion of people who used the service were unable to express their views on the care they received. Therefore, we spoke with staff and observed their practices, in order to determine how this care and support was carried out.

As there were no relatives visiting on the day of our inspection, we contacted four relatives by telephone instead. We wanted to find out their opinions on the care provided at the home. One relative told us, 'It's a friendly and caring home. The food is good and they're all involved if they want to be in cooking it. They also have little parties. If I want to speak to someone I can. I feel it's a family home.' Another relative said, 'It's been fabulous. We don't get to see X as often because of where we live, but the love, care and attention X gets there more than compensates for us not being able to visit as much as we would like. X's main concern is to have people around that are jolly and nice.' Other comments included, 'X couldn't be in a better place,' 'The personal care and attention doesn't get lost. It's a small care home' and 'We're all happy that X is happy and that is the main thing.'

We spoke with one relative whose comments did not relate to the outcomes within this report. However we passed this feedback to the manager for her attention.