Staff “built trusting and respectful” relationships with Braeburn Court residents – but leadership failings identified

The small staff team at Braeburn Court Housing Support Service are “respectful and delivered care and support in the way residents would wish” – but there were failings around leadership which had left the service weak or adequate in parts, according to a recent Care Inspectorate report.

An unannounced inspection was carried out by the Care Inspectorate at Braeburn Court in St Margaret’s Hope between 20 February and 1 March this year, with the findings published this week (20 March).

Braeburn Court provide a housing support and care at home support service to older and vulnerable people in their own tenancies.

Orkney Health and Care’s Head of Health and Community Care, Lynda Bradford, said frontline staff were to be commended for the relationships built up with the service users and families, which was highlighted within the report.

However, she said it was disappointing - but not surprising - to note a “weak” grading around leadership, given recent significant staffing challenges, the after-effects of the pandemic and latterly a vacant manager’s post at the service.

“This report is no reflection on the efforts provided by frontline staff at Braeburn who are quite clearly highly regarded by many service users and their families.

“The weakness comes from the lack of leadership, and we are in the process of advertising to recruit to the vacant key manager role to bring the service back up to the level that it should be at – and was at in recent times.

“It is heartening to read some of the comments by services users and their families - people were comfortable with staff members they knew well; there were some favourable reports from family, care and support was delivered by a small and consistent staff team and this allowed people to build up trusting relationships with staff where they felt safe when their care was being delivered. People said staff were respectful and delivered care and support in the way they wished.

“Some of the comments from people spoken to included: ‘The support is always for my relative's best interests, and staff would consult with me if additional family support is needed.’ ‘It is reassuring that there is always someone there if I need them.’ ‘The staff know what I like and know me really well, really well’.

“However, it has become clear that we need to support our staff more to improve on their skillset and to understand their roles and responsibilities. We will be providing training for staff in areas where they lack confidence.

“We must update people’s care plans to reflect their current needs and improve care and recording in relation to safely managing individuals’ medication and skin. It is absolutely not acceptable for gaps in dealing safely with medication.

“Another key action is for us to have a more robust quality assurance system embedded in the service, focusing on improved outcomes for individuals using our service.

“We will reflect closely on what has been found by the Inspector in terms of preparing an action plan to address the issues raised.”

The Care Inspectorate graded the service as adequate in terms of supporting wellbeing and how well care and support is planned and weak around leadership.

A number of requirements have been put in place as a result of the inspection:

• By 3 June 2023 the provider must ensure healthy skin care is promoted for all the people they support.
• By 3 July 2023 the provider must ensure people are kept well and safe by getting the right medication at the right time.
• By 3 June 2023, the provider must ensure people are kept safe and their health and wellbeing is promoted by having robust and effective management and leadership arrangements in place.
• By 3 June 2023, the provider must ensure people are kept safe and their health and wellbeing are promoted by the service having robust quality assurance, communication and reporting systems.
• By 3 June 2023 the provider must ensure effective arrangements are in place to make sure people get the care and support that they need and that is right for them.

One area for improvement was identified:

• To ensure consistent, good quality and respectful care is delivered to all the individuals equally, staff should be supported to understand their roles and responsibilities when delivering care and support. Staff should be confident and competent when supporting people with complex needs.

The full report is available from the Care Inspectorate website www.careinspectorate.com