St Brendan's Care Home

Updated 18 March 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This included checking the provider was meeting COVID-19 vaccination requirements. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

St Brendan’s Care Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. St Brendan’s Care Home is a care home without nursing care. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

At the time of inspection, the service did not have a manager registered with CQC. The manager had started the application process to become registered manager.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

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 looked at online reviews of the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with seven members of staff including the manager, nominated individual, care staff and the administrator. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We spoke to 12 people who use the service. We reviewed a range of records. This included four people's care records including people's medicines records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We sought further information and reviewed evidence found during the inspection. We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We contacted professionals for feedback. We also reviewed quality assurance records.

Updated 18 March 2022

About the service

St Brendan’s Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care. St Brendan’s Care Home accommodates 62 people across three separate wings, each of which has separate adapted facilities. One of the wings specialises in providing care to people living with advanced dementia. The service provides support to older people who may also have dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 51 people using the service.

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

The home ensured infection prevention and control guidance was followed to keep people and staff safe. People reported to feeling safe living at the service. Risk assessments were personalised and included detailed information of how to mitigate the risk.

The service had an open and transparent way of working to ensure the safety of the people living at the service. The provider was able to demonstrate that quality assurance systems ensured the quality of the service was maintained. There was a positive culture amongst staff at the service. Staff knew people they supported well and cared about their wellbeing. The provider was able to demonstrate their compliance with legal obligations and any learning from incidents or accidents was undertaken effectively. People reported that the management team were approachable and willing to listen.

Meetings for residents, relatives and staff had taken place and improvements to the service had been made based on the comments made.

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 23 October 2018).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to staffing levels within the care home. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

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. This included checking the provider was meeting COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

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 service has remained good based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for St Brendan’s Care Home 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.