22 February 2023
During an inspection looking at part of the service
About the service
Barleyfields House is a respite care service. It is registered to provide accommodation and personal care to a maximum of 5 people, at any one time. In total, 29 people accessed the service for respite care at different times throughout the year. At the time of the inspection, 5 people were receiving respite care at the home.
The accommodation is a single-storey building. There are 5 bedrooms and people have access to adapted bathrooms, communal spaces and a large garden.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Right Support:
People were mostly 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. However, records relating to consent and capacity needed improving.
When staff administered people’s medicines, they did not always follow best practice. The issues we found were rectified during our inspection.
The service gave people care and support in a safe, clean, well equipped, well-furnished, and well-maintained environment which met their sensory and physical needs.
Staff supported people to take part in activities and pursue their interests in the local area.
Right Care:
People received kind and thoughtful care. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to their individual needs.
Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it.
The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe.
Right Culture:
The provider had processes in place to review compliance with the regulations, but we found some areas required improvement.
We did find lessons were learned when things went wrong, and the provider responded to any points identified during the inspection. People found the registered manager approachable.
Staff turnover was low, which supported people to receive consistent care from staff who knew them well.
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 requires improvement (published 5 March 2020). The service remains rated requires improvement. This service has been rated requires improvement for the last 2 consecutive inspections.
At our last inspection we recommended the provider took action to update their policies and practice in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 Code of Practice and current NICE guidance on managing medicines in care homes. At this inspection we found this guidance had been considered, but records needed improvement.
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.
You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
Enforcement
We have identified a breach in relation to the governance of the service at this inspection.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.