Archived: Bruno's Cottage

Updated 17 May 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This unannounced inspection was carried out by an inspector and took place on 26 February and 2 March 2016.

Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. The provider returned the PIR and we took this into account when we made judgements in this report.

We reviewed information we held about the provider including, for example, statutory notifications that they had sent us. A statutory notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We contacted the health and social care commissioners who help place and monitor the care of people living in the home that have information about the quality of the service.

We took into account people’s experience of receiving care and to help us do this we used the ‘Short Observational Framework Inspection (SOFI); SOFI is a specific way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We looked at the care records of the five people in residence. We spoke with the new manager, and four care staff. We looked at four records in relation to care staff recruitment and training, as well as records related to quality monitoring of the service by the provider and new manager.

We undertook general observations throughout the home, including observing interactions between care staff and people in the communal areas. We viewed the accommodation and facilities used by people.

Updated 17 May 2016

This unannounced inspection took place on the 26 February and 2 March 2016.

Bruno’s Cottage provides accommodation with personal care for up to five people with a range of needs including, for example, people with learning disabilities and people on the autism spectrum. There were five people in residence when we inspected.

A registered manager was in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the service is run. The new manager in post was applying to register with CQC when we inspected.

People were safe. People were protected by robust recruitment procedures from receiving unsafe care from care staff that were unsuited to the job. They were safeguarded from abuse and poor practice by care staff that knew what action they needed to take if they suspected this was happening. Care records contained risk assessments and risk management plans to protect people from identified risks and helped to keep them safe but also enabled positive risk taking.

People were cared for by sufficient numbers of care staff that were experienced and had received the training they needed to do their job safely. Care staff had received training in areas that enabled them to understand and meet the complex care needs of each person. They were able to meet the assessed needs of people living at the home.

People’s care needs had been assessed prior to admission and they each had an agreed care plan. Their care plans were regularly reviewed, reflected their individual needs and provided care staff with the information and guidance they needed to provide person centred care.

People were enabled to do things for themselves by friendly care staff that were attentive to each person’s individual needs and understood their capabilities. People’s individual preferences for the way they liked to receive their care and support were respected. There were formal systems in place to assess people’s capacity for decision making under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

People’s healthcare needs were met and they received timely treatment from other community based healthcare professionals when this was necessary. People’s medicines were appropriately and safely managed. Medicines were securely stored and there were suitable arrangements in place for their timely administration.

People’s individual nutritional needs were assessed, monitored and met with appropriate guidance from healthcare professionals that was acted upon. People had enough to eat and drink. People who needed support with eating and drinking received the help they required.

People, their representatives or significant others, were assured that if they were dissatisfied with the quality of the service they would be listened to and that appropriate remedial action would be taken to try to resolve matters to their satisfaction.

People received care from care staff that were supported and encouraged by the provider and senior care staff to do a good job caring for people. The quality of the service provided had been audited by the new manager and the provider and improvements made when necessary.