Wordsworth House

Updated 4 May 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.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was completed by one inspector.

Service and service type

Wordsworth House 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. Wordsworth House is a care home with 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.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We also contacted Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. 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 six people and four relatives about their experience of the care provided and observed staff interactions with people. We spoke with ten members of staff, including care staff, senior care, care home assistant practitioners, nurses and ancillary staff. We also spoke with the registered manager, the regional manager and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We also contacted six relatives and 11 staff by email and received three responses from relatives and two from staff.

We viewed a range of records. Including care records for four people and multiple medicines records. We viewed a range a records relating to the management of the service, including audits, action plans and policies and procedures.

Updated 4 May 2022

About the service

Wordsworth House is a care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 78 people in one purpose built building across three floors. At the time of the inspection there were 55 people using the service, some of whom may be living with dementia.

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

People, and their relatives, told us they felt safe at Wordsworth House. Staff understood how to safeguard people form abuse and were confident any concerns would be appropriately responded to by the registered manager. Improvements had been made to infection prevention and control measures since our last inspection. Staff were very knowledgeable about PPE and wore it correctly. Measures to assess competency and monitor compliance with PPE use were in place. Risks were assessed and minimised. Medicines were managed safely. Staff worked as a team to meet people's needs and support new staff who had recently started in post. Safe recruitment practices were followed.

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

A range of audits were used to effectively monitor and assess the service. Areas for improvement were identified and responded to in a timely manner so the service was continuously learning and developing. Everyone we spoke to said the home was well-led, and the staff were kind, caring and supportive. No concerns were raised with us during the inspection.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 19 January 2021) and there was a breach of regulation. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an announced focused inspection of this service on 11 and 16 November 2020. A breach of legal requirements was found. We served a warning notice in relation to infection prevention and control practices. We undertook this focused inspection to check they had made improvements and to confirm they now met legal requirements.

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.

We also received some concerns in relation to falls management and meeting people’s needs. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

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. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Wordsworth House 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.