Archived: Weston Villa

Updated 1 March 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 Care Act 2014.

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 undertaken by one inspector. Two visits were made to the service. Phone calls were also made to relatives to gain their feedback.

Service and service type

Weston Villa is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means the provider is legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced on the first day and announced on the second day.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received since the last inspection. We contacted the local authority for information about the service. The provider was not asked to complete the required Provider Information Return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about the service, what it does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account in making our judgements in this report.

This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We communicated with two people who used the service and relatives of six people about their experience of the care provided. Some people were unable to talk with us and used different ways to communicate including signs, pictures, gestures, vocalisations and body language. We also observed people and their interactions with staff and each other throughout the inspection visits.

We spoke with seven members of staff including the interim manager, new manager, operations manager, team leaders and support staff.

We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI) and spent time observing people. SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and three medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including quality assurance audits were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We received information on training, and further evidence of quality assurance checks.

Updated 1 March 2022

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

About the service

Weston Villa is a residential care home providing personal care to eight people in two separate buildings at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to eight people.

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

Right support

• Improvements were required to ensure people could develop, flourish and pursue their interests.

• Improvements in medicines management were needed so people could be supported with their medicines safely and in the way they preferred.

• Staff enabled people to access specialist health and social care support but not always in a timely manner.

• A programme of re-decoration was underway to improve the cleanliness and homeliness of the service.

Right care

• Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. Refresher training and competency checks in some areas were being undertaken to ensure staff were up to date with the skills and knowledge required to provide optimal care and support.

• Staff and people assessed the risks people might face. Improvements were required to ensure people always received safe care and treatment. Where appropriate, staff encouraged and enabled people to take positive risks.

• Aspects of infection prevention and control required strengthening to ensure people always received the right care to keep them safe.

• The staff team worked together to ensure people received kind and compassionate care. Turnover in the staff team meant some staff did not yet know people well.

Right culture

• People and those important to them, including relatives and social care professionals, were involved in planning their care but communication was not always effective.

• The previous manager had not always promoted an open and person-centred culture for people living in the service. The staff team were keen to re-establish good practice for the benefit of people and those important to them.

• The interim manager was working hard to stabilise the service and staff team, and implement improvements following an action plan.

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

Rating at last inspection

The rating at the last inspection was good (published 2 June 2021).

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection to assess that the service is applying the principles of ‘Right support right care right culture’.

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 found some concerns about infection prevention and control practice so broadened the inspection to look at the key questions Safe and Well-Led.

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 good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have identified breaches in relation to the governance arrangements in the service, and people receiving safe care and treatment.

Follow up

We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will work with the local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.