Updated 12 July 2019
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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team:
This inspection was carried out by one inspector, a registration inspector and an assistant inspector.
Service and service type:
Brendoncare Otterbourne Hill 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.
The building was a new, purpose build site. Accommodation was arranged over two floors with two “households” on each floor. Each household was made up of two corridors, two small, quiet living spaces and one main living, dining and kitchen area.
There were attached privately leased mews apartments where people could access support with personal care from the service if they wished.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection:
This inspection was unannounced. Inspection site visit activity was carried out on 23 and 25 April 2019.
What we did:
Before the inspection we looked at information we had about the service. We looked at notifications we received from the service – the law requires providers to notify us of certain events that happen during the running of a service. We checked the provider’s website.
During the inspection we spoke with three people who used the service, three people’s relatives, the registered manager, the quality lead, and eight members of staff. We spoke with two healthcare professionals who had contact with the service to gain their views.
Some people using the service were not able to express their views fully. We made observations in communal spaces of the home of how staff interacted with people. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.
We looked at five people’s care records, activity plans and meal plans. We looked at staff records, including training records. We looked at records of accidents, incidents and complaints.
We looked at audits, quality assurance reports and other records, including policies and procedures. We reviewed the home’s facilities.
We reviewed the provider’s service improvement plan and discussed what the key priorities were for improvement.