Brockhampton Court Nursing Home prides itself on delivering the finest standards of nursing, residential and palliative care. Striving to offer a home away from home for our residents, Brockhampton Court is a care home located in Brockhampton, just outside the village of Fownhope, between Hereford and Ross-on-Wye about 5miles from the M50 motorway.

Response from Brockhampton Court to the CQC Inspection Report that was carried out on the 25th July 2022.

We thank the CQC for coming to inspect our home and realise how important it is for the CQC to inspect for safety monitoring, a well-led team, good infection control and other work practices.

As a small independent care home established 30 years ago, kindness, care and a happy environment is also very high in our priorities for our residents and staff.

There were many positive points raised by the inspector.  It was lovely to read a report that stated so many of the staff (many of whom have worked for 20 years with us) and our residents’ families said how delighted they were with our home that provides great care, kindness, wonderful food, and an excellent entertainment programme.

There were positive comments from residents regarding recruitment such as “supported by a consistent group of permanent and agency staff who knew them well to ensure continuity of care” and “staff were recruited safely”,

Residents said that they feel safe and made the following comments: “I feel very safe, they (staff) are very careful and caring”, “the staff are all lovely, polite, and helpful” and “we feel listened to”.   

Other comments by the CQC included ‘sufficient infection prevention and control arrangements’, ‘sufficient staff to meet the resident’s needs’, ‘residents were supported to have choice and control of their lives’, ‘there was a positive person-centred culture in the home’ and ‘the provider worked in partnership with other professionals’.

The CQC did highlight that there were some environmental aspects that required action as well as concerns raised about certain medicines not being managed and stored in a safe way.  We took all these points very seriously and took action to mitigate immediate risk as follows:

Some of the windows already had window restrictors on them.  However, they required updating.  This has been carried out.  The Health and Safety window checks now include window restrictors.

The CQC pointed out that the sluice rooms were unsafe as they were unlocked.  All sluice rooms are now inaccessible and have coded keypads fitted.

Previously the CQC had said that the balcony on the flat roof area required a barrier to reduce the risk of people falling from height.  A company came and fitted a barrier which was the legal limit of 1100mm from ground level.  However, during the inspection the CQC commented that there was a potential risk of people using the furniture or gaining a foothold on the original wall, to scale the barrier.  We have restricted access to the flat roof and are awaiting the fitting of a glass balustrade.

Communal bathrooms had hot pipes exposed.  The bathrooms are all assisted.  The pipes in the communal bathrooms now have lagging.

Medicines were not managed and stored in a safe way.  All medication errors will be fully investigated and will include a root cause analysis (if required), an action plan and learning outcomes. 

Two nurses check the CD medication weekly. 

We are looking into an Electronic Medication Administration Record System (eMAR).  This system increases resident safety and improves care home efficiency.  The benefits of eMAR are safe medication administration, improves accuracy, reduces risk of medication errors, and monitors the resident’s wellbeing. 

The Specialist Clinical Care Home Pharmacist NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health & Care carried out a medication inspection in August.  A meeting is being arranged for the Pharmacist to come to Brockhampton Court to meet our new Manager.  The Home Manager has an appointment with the local surgery GP to discuss escalation protocols and processes.    

The CQC mentioned a serious injury from a fall in June 2020.  We have spoken to the family of the resident involved who were contacted in September 2021 and have not heard anything since.  The resident was the mother-in-law of the family in question, whose mother has been at Brockhampton Court for several years.  The family are very happy with the home.

Although we have had a Home Manager at Brockhampton Court we have not had a Registered Manager in place for 18 months.  However, Wendy Moorcroft, our new Home Manager, who joined us at the beginning of November, is in the process of applying for her CQC registration.  It is important to us to ensure that the residents and their families are reassured that Wendy and the team are working very hard to keep the home safe and are providing a high standard of quality care.

Please feel free to contact us if you wish to discuss the CQC Inspection report.

From the 4th October this year, we have had a digital reception that shows we have had 285 visitors to the home to the 1st December who have given us predominately five star reviews for ‘safe’ and ‘well-led’.

Autumna has invited care providers to evidence the infection control measures they are carrying out, above and beyond those laid out by the government, in order to keep residents, staff and visitors safe.

Infection Control Initiatives in place
	Independent Assessments	We have been independently assessed in our approach to infection control.
	Infection Control Training	Our staff are trained to use measures which prevent and control infections.
	Regulatory Assessment	We have been assessed by the care regulator in our approach to infection control.
	Sterilisation & Disinfection Devices	We are using sterilisation and/or disinfection devices within our care setting.
	Virus Testing	We are testing for viral infection when symptoms present within our care setting.

Infection Prevention & Control (IPC) - Regulator’s Assessment
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, regulators have assessed the preparedness of care providers in relation to infection prevention and control. Details of the regulator’s latest findings can be found below.
Regulator: CQC
	Admission	The provider assured the regulator that it was admitting people safely to the service.
	Policies	The provider assured the regulator that its infection prevention and control policy was up to date.
	Staffing	The provider assured the regulator that it was making sure infection outbreaks can be effectively prevented or managed.
	Testing	The provider assured the regulator that it was accessing testing for people using the service and staff.
	Use of PPE	The provider assured the regulator that it was using personal protective equipment effectively and safely.
	Visitors	The provider assured the regulator that it was preventing visitors from catching and spreading infections.
To view the provider’s latest Inspection Reports, Click here.

Brockhampton
Brockhampton
Hereford
Herefordshire
HR1 4TQ

Regulator: CQC