Beechfields

Beechfields 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.

Beechfields is a registered care home providing accommodation, personal care and support for up to nine older people. It is situated in a rural area approximately two miles from the town of Sittingbourne in Kent. The accommodation was comfortable and home like, was on one level and had been purpose built to meet people's needs. All the rooms had on-suite shower facilities. At the time of the inspection, eight people lived in the service.

There was a registered manager employed at the service. A manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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 registered manager was not present during the inspection, this was conducted with Mrs Saffrey, who is joint provider of the service with the registered manager and in day-to-day charge of the care being delivered.

At the last inspection the service had an overall rating of 'Good'. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed. At this inspection, we found the service remained overall 'good.'

At our inspection on 03 June 2016 we made two recommendations to assist the provider to further improve the quality of their service. One was in relation to the provider's policy about emergency planning and the other was about the management of risk around the monitoring of potential waterborne viruses. At this inspection, we found that the provider had taken actions on our recommendations.

Risks continued to be appropriately assessed and mitigated to ensure people were safe. Medicines were managed safely and people had received their medicines as prescribed. Staff knew what they should do to identify and raise safeguarding concerns. The provider knew their responsibilities in relation to keeping people safe from harm.

Effective systems continued to be in place to enable the provider to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service. Accident and incident records were closely monitored, actions were taken in a timely manner to ensure lessons were learnt.

People were happy with their care and support. Staff had built up good relationships with people. The service provided good quality care and support to people enabling them to live as fulfilled and meaningful

lives as possible. Staff were caring and kind in their approach and had a good rapport with people. People told us they were treated with dignity and respect. People's privacy was respected.

People were asked about their needs relating to culture, race, religion and sexual orientation in their assessment. This was recorded in their care plan and staff were aware of this.

There were enough staff deployed to meet people's needs. The provider continued to operate a safe and robust recruitment and selection procedure to make sure staff were suitable and safe to work with people. Staff received training, which enabled them to meet people's needs. They also received support and supervision to enable them to carry out their roles safely.

People were encouraged to make their own choices about everyday matters. People's decisions and choices were respected. People's care plans clearly detailed their care and support needs. People were fully involved with the care planning process. The service had developed care plans which clearly detailed people's preferences, likes, dislikes, mental health and social needs. Care had been delivered in line with people's choices. The provider reviewed each person's care with each person as and when necessary.

People continued to be supported and helped to maintain their health and to access health services when they needed them. The provider and staff maintained good communication with other organisations such as the community nursing service, GP and other healthcare services.

People were given information about how to complain. People were actively involved in improving the service. They completed feedback surveys and had regular meetings with the providers.

Staff were positive about the support they received from the management team. They felt they could raise concerns and they would be listened to.

The provider continued to build links with other healthcare professionals and work closely with them.

The five questions we ask about services and what we found