Brendoncare St Giles View

There was a positive safety culture, and processes were in place to identify and evaluate any safeguarding’s or incidents. There were enough consistent staff to meet people’s needs.

People’s care needs were assessed prior to their admission and people were involved in discussions about potential risks to them. Staff were informed about people’s care needs and processes were in place to ensure people’s safe transition into and out of the service and that key information about them was shared across the staff team. People’s care was regularly reviewed and updated as their care needs changed. People’s consent for their care was sought and where people lacked capacity to consent to specific decisions, legal requirements were met.

The provider had processes in place to assess potential risks to people associated with eating and drinking and the provider was part of a university led research trial into the treatment of malnutrition in older people.

People enjoyed a range of activities both in the home and out in the community. Staff were polite, caring and kind. However, we saw on occasions some staff missed the opportunity to fully engage with people whilst providing their care.

The provider leased the home and was aware that, although the building design reflected good practice principles for people living with dementia, certain aspects of how people actually experienced the environment required review. This was in order to maximise people’s opportunities for independence and stimulation. The provider was already working with the landlord’s Dementia Specialist to identify areas for improvement.The environment and premises were seen to be clean.

The home opened combining 2 care homes and staff teams, one from another care provider. Leaders fed back that this had been challenging. There had also been several changes of registered manager. There is now a stable staff team and a registered manager, with a good level of provider support and oversight. Leaders demonstrated a good understanding of the issues the home faced; learning had taken place from the commissioning of the home and plans were in place to drive forward the required changes.

We saw a staff file from one of the former staff teams lacked some pre-employment records and that this had been previously requested. The provider acted promptly to address this oversight. The provider had robust recruitment checks for staff they had recruited since the service opened.

We found changes could be made to further improve the management of medicines, although there had not been an impact upon people.