Brookside Care Home

Brookside Care Home is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to 18 people. The service provides support for older people including people living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 12 people using the service.

Brookside Care Home is a small family run care home.

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

Staff understood their responsibilities to protect people from abuse and avoidable harm. Risks were assessed and preventative action was taken to reduce any risks of harm.

Staff were recruited in a safe way. Sufficient numbers of staff with the right skills were deployed to meet people's needs.

Systems were in place to ensure medicines were received, store and administered in a safe way. Staff received appropriate training to ensure they had the skills to meet people's needs. Staff knew and understood people’s support needs well.

Infection control systems were followed. People were protected against the risks of transmission of COVID-19. A staff member commented, “We keep all our residents safe and protected at such a difficult time. There are posters around the home that catch my eye that are a reminder of following infection controls.”

People were provided with a choice of nutritious home cooked meals. Staff monitored the food and fluid intake of people at risk of malnutrition and / or dehydration and timely action was taken in response to any concerns identified.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control over 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.

People were asked for their consent before care and support was provided and staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Systems to assess and record people’s capacity to make informed decisions about their care and treatment were in place.

People had access to healthcare services as and when required. People commented the staff were kind and caring and they had positive relationships with all the staff. Staff maintained people's privacy and dignity and encouraged people to be as independent as possible. Staff worked in a flexible way to meet people's support needs in a person-centred way.

People were involved in developing their care plans and were given choices. People knew how to make a complaint and felt confident any concerns or complaints would be listened to and appropriate action taken by the management.

People and staff all commented they had confidence in the registered manager and the management team. People and staff were asked for their feedback and this was acted on to continually improve the service provision.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

This service was registered with us on 30 March 2020. The last rating for the service under the previous provider was Good published on 17 November 2017.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

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.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.