Westerley Care Home

Updated 16 July 2022

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was conducted by three inspectors.

Service and service type

Westerley Care Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Westerley Care Home is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post, who was also the provider.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

Inspection activity started on 16 May 2022 and ended on 15 June 2022. We visited the service on 16 May 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with two people who used the service and two relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with five members of staff including the provider, manager, deputy manager and care staff. We also received written feedback from six members of staff.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment, and documents relating to staff supervision and training.

A wide variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits and monitoring records, surveys and meeting minutes were also reviewed.

Updated 16 July 2022

About the service

Westerley Care Home is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care to up to 30 people. The service provides support to older people, some of who may be living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 28 people using the service.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People and their relatives told us the service was safe and expressed their satisfaction with the care provided. Staff had received training in safeguarding and felt confident in reporting any concerns to the provider or to external organisations. The provider had effective systems in place, had made referrals and investigated any concerns where appropriate.

Assessments of any risks to people’s safety and welfare had been completed and plans put into place to help mitigate these risks. Staff were aware of the action they needed to take to help keep people safe and had access to up-to date guidance. Any incidents or accidents were recorded and monitored by the provider to ensure appropriate action was taken in response.

There was enough staff. Members of staff were seen to be attentive and able to respond promptly to people. The provider monitored staff deployment and ensured safe staffing levels were maintained. Staff recruitment was safe and pre-employment checks completed.

Medicines were managed safely and regular audits completed. We were assured by the measures taken to help ensure the prevention and control of infection.

People’s needs and choices were assessed before admission to the service and they were supported to express their views and preferences regarding their care.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives. Staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Staff were trained and felt supported in their roles. Daily handovers, regular team meetings and supervision sessions provided staff with the opportunity to reflect on their practice and offer feedback or suggestions to the management team.

People, relatives and staff spoke positively about the management of the service. We were told the management team were approachable and supportive. There were regular opportunities provided to people, relatives, staff and visiting professionals to communicate with the provider, who confirmed they used all information received with a view to improve the service.

The provider used a range of audits and checks to monitor the quality of the care at the service. They had identified ways in which these could be improved and had plans in place to address this. The provider was keen to be able to demonstrate more efficiently a clear audit trail of the quality assurances processes and the action taken to improve outcomes for people.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 10 March 2021).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to safeguarding and staffing. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, effective and well-led only.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good based on the findings of this inspection.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Westerley Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.