Archived: Woodlea Care Home

Updated 5 March 2015

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 21 and 23 January 2015 and was unannounced. The inspection team consisted of an adult social care inspector.

At the time of our inspection there were 24 people living in the home. Twenty three people at the home and one person was in hospital. The service could accommodate up to 30 people.

Before our inspection we reviewed all the information we held about the service. The provider had not completed a provider information return (PIR) as we had not requested one. The pre-inspection information pack document is the provider’s own assessment of how they meet the five key questions and how they plan to improve their service.

We spoke with the local authority commissioners and safeguarding vulnerable adults team. The local authority told us they had no concerns regarding this service.

We spent some time in the lounge and dining room areas talking to people to help us understand the experience of people who used the service. We looked at all other areas of the home including some people’s bedrooms, communal bathrooms and lounge areas. We spent some time looking at documents and records that related to peoples care. We looked at four people’s support plans. We spoke with eight people living at the home and three relatives.

During our inspection we also spoke with three members of care staff, the deputy manager the registered manager and the regional manager. We also looked at records relating to staff, medicines management and the management of the service.

Updated 5 March 2015

This was an unannounced inspection carried out on 21 and 23 January 2015. We last inspected the service in August 2013 and found they were meeting the Regulations we looked at.

Woodlea is a care home which provides accommodation for up to 34 older people who require personal care. The service is located on Bawtry Road Bessacarr, a suburb of Doncaster.

The home had a registered manager who had been registered since 2014. 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.

People we spoke with told us they felt safe living in the home and said staff were very good to them. We saw there were systems and processes in place to protect people from the risk of harm. Staff we spoke with were knowledgeable on safeguarding and were able to explain the procedures to follow should an allegation of abuse be made.

Medicines were stored safely and procedures were in place to ensure medicines were administered safely. However, we found these were not always followed which could put people at risk.

The requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) were in place to protect people who may not have the capacity to make decisions for themselves. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) sets out what must be done to make sure that the human rights of people who may lack mental capacity to make decisions are protected, including balancing autonomy and protection in relation to consent or refusal of care or treatment.

The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards were only used when it was considered to be in the person’s best interest. This legislation is used to protect people who might not be able to make informed decisions on their own. The registered manager demonstrated a good awareness of their role in protecting people’s rights and recording decisions made in their best interest. They were also aware of the new requirements in relation to this legislation.

We found people were cared for, or supported by, sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, skilled and experienced staff. Robust recruitment and selection procedures were in place and appropriate checks had been undertaken before staff began work.

Suitable arrangements were in place and people were provided with a choice of healthy food and drink ensuring their nutritional needs were met. However, we found meal times could have been better organised ,meals were slow to be brought out from the kitchen and some people had finished their meal before others were served at the same table. This did not ensure it was an enjoyable experience for people who used the service.

People’s physical health was monitored as required. This included the monitoring of people’s health conditions and symptoms so appropriate referrals to health professionals could be made. People’s needs were assessed and care and support was planned and delivered in line with their individual care needs. For example we saw from care records that we looked at that people been referred and had received intervention from a speech and language therapist (SALT). This meant people with swallowing difficulties received food and fluids appropriate to their needs. People told us their GP visited every week but if they required them between visits staff always responded to their wishes.

We saw interactions between staff and people living in the home were kind and respectful to people when they were supporting them. Staff were aware of the values of the service and knew how to respect people’s privacy and dignity.

Activities were provided. We saw people were involved in activities on the day of our visit. However, some people told us they would like more activities. The registered manager was addressing this.

The manager told us they had received one formal complaint in the last twelve months. We saw this was being dealt with appropriately. People we spoke with did not raise any complaints or concerns about living at the home. Relatives we spoke with told us they had no concerns but would discuss with the staff or manager if they needed to raise any issues.

There were effective systems in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service provided. We saw copies of reports produced by the Registered Manager and the company’s regional manager. The reports included any actions required and these were checked each month to determine progress.

During this inspection we identified a breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010. We found people did not always receive their medication as prescribed. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.