20 September 2023
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Brooks Care and Nursing Services is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people who live in their own homes.
Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection there were 64 people using the service of which 60 people were receiving the regulated activity of personal care.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People’s risks had been identified, reviewed, and updated. People received safe care from staff who knew them well. There was a safeguarding policy and the registered managers and staff knew how to identify and report any concerns.
Staff had received an induction and training to enable them to meet people’s needs. We saw supervisions, spot checks, competency checks and meetings for staff were carried out and staff told us they felt supported by the registered managers to perform their role. People were supported with their medicines by trained members of staff where required.
Staff told us they had access to personal protective equipment (PPE) and there were effective infection control measures in place. People confirmed appropriate PPE was worn by staff when being provided with care and support.
People were 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.
We received positive feedback about the leadership and management of the service. Systems and processes were in place to monitor, maintain and improve the quality of the service.
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
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (21 March 2023).
The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.
At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
At our last inspection we recommended the provider seeks advice and guidance from a reputable source about recording lessons learnt to ensure a formal process is in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service and ensure learning is shared with staff. At this inspection we found the provider had a more formal process in place recording lessons learnt, action taken and what changes had been made to improve the quality of service to people.
Why we inspected
At our last inspection of this service on 21 February 2023. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve in relation to medicines management and good governance.
We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements regarding the Warning Notice we previously served in relation to Regulation 17 (good governance) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those 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 changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Brooks Care and Nursing Services Limited 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.