- Care home
Barrington Lodge
Report from 10 July 2024 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Barrington Lodge is a care home registered to provide personal care and accommodation for up to 38 elderly people living with dementia. At the time of the inspection 35 people were using the service. The assessment started on 8 July 2024. A site visit to gather people’s experiences and observe care practices was carried out on 15 and 24 July 2024. As part of the assessment we looked at 12 quality statements: learning culture, safe systems, safeguarding; involving people to manage risks, safe environments; safe and effective staffing, infection control and medicines. And in Well-led: Shared direction and culture, leadership, freedom to speak up and governance, management and sustainability. We spoke with 9 people’s relatives, the registered manager [also a director], the deputy manager and the second director of the company. People used different ways of communicating, including using vocalisations, facial expressions and body language. We spent time with people, observing their interactions with staff. The assessment was carried out by one inspector, one assessor and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. We visited the home and spoke with six members of staff, the registered manager, the deputy manager and 2 health and social care professionals. We reviewed a range of records. This included four people's care records, medicines records and four staff files as well as other records relating to how the service was managed. We spoke with 6 people who used the service and 7 relatives of people. The home had a registered manager in post. At the last inspection in March 2022 we rated this service ‘Requires Improvement’ in safe and well-led and ‘Good’ in effective, caring and responsive. We carried out this inspection because we received concerns from a local authority relating to some aspects of the service identified in a recent visit to the home.
People's experience of this service
Due to their dementia some people were unable to vocalise their views about the home, however there were some people who were able to contribute their views. Together with our observations of people and the staff supporting them and the comments we received from relatives, it was clear people were safe and well cared for at Barrington Lodge. Comments from people were positive about the care and support they received, they included, “ I do feel well cared for here, the staff are very caring,” “Yes I like it here, obviously I’d rather be living at home but I have accepted that’s no longer possible and I am happy here with the care and support I receive” and “This is a good home, I was in another place before and this is so much better. I feel staff know me quite well and can support me with the care I need.” Comments from relatives included: “I can honestly say she [family member] is safe and well looked after. They [staff] are on the ball and keep in touch with me about any developments, appropriately,” and “I am very confident they [my family member] is being well looked after at Barrington Lodge,” “I feel confident my [family member] is being well looked after when I leave from making a visit [to Barrington Lodge],” and “It’s a great weight off my shoulders to know they [family member] is being cared for so well at Barrington Lodge.” “I can’t give them [the staff] enough praise, you get the feeling that they really care. How lucky we have been for our family member to be there,” Staff are brilliant with [family member] and the staff support is very effective”.