This inspection took place on 25 and 26 September 2018 and was unannounced. Brook House Care Centre is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Brook House Care Centre is registered to provide accommodation and nursing care for up to 74 adults. The service is provided over three floors and within three units. People using the service include adults with a range of disabilities including brain injury, older adults with nursing needs and people living with dementia. At the time of this inspection there were 48 people using the service.

The care service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

There was no registered manager in post. The home manager had applied to CQC to become the registered manager of the home. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

This is the first inspection of the home under the new provider Bond Care.

Records were not always complete, consistent, signed and legible as some care plans had been handwritten. However, the provider knew of this and was still in the process of updating their records since taking over the service in October 2017. There were systems in place for assessing and monitoring the quality of the service. The provider had values and an organisational structure in place and staff upheld these values when performing their roles. People, their relatives, other professionals and staff were encouraged to be involved in service improvements through regular feedback and meetings. There were systems in place to promote continuous learning and improve the quality of the service. The provider worked in partnership with key organisations such as the local authorities that commissioned services from them to ensure people’s needs were met effectively.

The provider had policies and procedures in place to safeguard people from abuse and staff knew of the reporting and recording procedures if they had any concerns of abuse. There were safe recruitment practices in place to ensure staff employed at the home were suitable to work in social care. Checks had also been carried out on the registration of qualified nurses with their professional bodies to ensure they were suitable for the role. There were sufficient numbers of staff available on each shift to support people’s needs and meet them in a timely manner. The provider had safe systems for acquiring, storing, administering and disposing medicines and monitoring controlled drugs. Risks to people had been identified and assessed; risk assessments were person centred and included appropriate management plans to ensure risks to people were managed safely. There were systems in place to deal with foreseeable emergencies and each person had a personal emergency evacuation plan in place. The provider carried out checks on the environment and equipment to ensure they were safe for use. Appropriate infection control protocols were maintained to minimise and prevent the spread of diseases. Accidents and incidents were recorded, managed and monitored regularly to prevent future occurrences.

Staff assessed the needs of people before they moved into the home to ensure their needs would be met. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff support them in the least