Braintree Mews Care Home

The local safeguarding team had advised the registered manager of some incidents that required a safeguard referral. Action had been taken to complete these. However, some improvements were needed to ensure all areas of care plans were updated with any new information/changes. Monitoring charts in place needed more oversight in order to trigger actions to support people's ongoing health, welfare and safety. Additional process checks were put into place following feedback from healthcare professionals. Recruitment processes were robust. Medicines processes were safe. During our assessment we found all areas of the service were clean and odour free.

People were involved in the assessment of their needs, and support was provided where needed to maximise their involvement. A member of staff was specifically allocated to inform people about the service and what Braintree Mews could provide and people were fully included in the assessment process.

People were positive about the food at Braintree Mews and people’s nutritional needs were included within care plans. However, monitoring charts such as food and fluid or repositioning, required improvement.

The registered manager was aware they needed to work more closely with local services to improve outcomes for people and that work had begun.

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.

There was a relaxed atmosphere at the service and we saw that people were freely interacting with staff. People were treated with respect and dignity and staff encouraged people to be as independent as they could be.

People were fully involved in how care was planned and delivered. The health and care needs of people were understood. People, those who supported them and staff, could access information, advice and advocacy to support them in managing and understanding people’s care and treatment. As stated in other quality statements some improvements were needed to people’s care records.

The service had only been open for a few months with people being admitted and relationships with managers, staff and people were being developed.

On the day of our assessment visits, we found a positive atmosphere at the service. The registered manager and the management team had responded proactively to the concerns raised and had additional processes and checks in place to ensure collaborative working with health professionals.

Whilst most feedback from people and relatives was positive the registered manager had additional work to do to ensure all staff felt fully supported to create a positive culture.

Some improvements were required to improve care records and monitoring forms which internal auditing processes had not identified.