Beacon House

Updated 24 August 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was completed by an inspector and an Expert by Experience on the first day and an inspector on the second day. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Beacon House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Beacon House is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was not registered manager in post. A new manager had recently been appointed and they had submitted their application to CQC to become the registered manager.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from commissioners. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 8 people and 1 relative, a health care professional, 4 staff and the manager. We reviewed 3 people’s care records and their medicine records. We also reviewed records related to the safety and management of the service.

Updated 24 August 2023

Beacon House is a residential care home providing personal care and accommodation to up to 23 people. The service provides support to older people who may be living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 19 people using the service. The service also has seven bungalows on site but at the time of our inspection, no one living in the bungalows was being provided personal care.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People told us they were happy with the care they received, they felt safely cared for by staff who knew them well.

We identified 2 issues with medicines management which were immediately addressed by the manager to ensure people’s safety. The manager was aware staff recruitment files lacked some required information, which they had already identified and were seeking. Some aspects of people’s care records required improvement and this was addressed during the site visit.

There had been 3 managers of the service since January 2022. Governance processes had not been operated effectively prior to the new manager starting to ensure issues were identified and addressed for people. The new manager had started to take actions to address this, but it will take further time to complete them and to embed the new processes.

There were sufficient staff. People’s feedback was positive overall, but some felt on occasions they had to wait for staff to attend when they requested. People’s care was provided safely and people had any equipment they required. People were protected from the risk of acquiring an infection. Processes and practices were in place to safeguard people from the risk of abuse. Processes were in place to identify, review and learn from safety incidents.

The manager was taking actions to ensure people’s views were sought regularly and acted upon. Professionals confirmed staff worked well with them.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 22 August 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

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 good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection. We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Beacon House 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.