Wheatley Lane

Updated 11 April 2019

The inspection:

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.

Inspection team:

This inspection was completed by one adult social care inspector.

Service and service type:

Wheatley Lane is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means the manager and the provider are both legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection:

This inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small and people using the service and staff are not always at the service. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

What we did:

Before this inspection we reviewed information we held about the service. The registered manager had completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). The PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We also reviewed notifications submitted to us by the service. Providers are required by law to notify us of certain events, such as when a person who uses the service suffers a serious injury. We took this information into account when we inspected the service.

We contacted social care commissioners who help arrange and monitor the care of people living at Wheatley Lane. We used their feedback to help plan our inspection.

During this inspection we spoke with all four people living at Wheatley Lane. We spoke with the registered manager and two of the three support workers employed. We also spoke with a community health professional who was visiting a person during our inspection, to obtain their views about the service.

We looked at two people's care records, two medicines administration records (MAR) and two staff files which included recruitment checks, supervisions, appraisals and training records. We also looked at other records relating to the management of the service, such as quality assurance audits.

We spent time observing the daily life in the service and we looked around the building to check environmental safety and cleanliness.

Updated 11 April 2019

About the service: Wheatley Lane is a care home that provides personal care and accommodation for up to six people with learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder. At the time of this inspection four people were using the service. The home comprises of three two-bedroom terraced houses.

People’s experience of using this service:

•The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support in the following ways, promotion of choice and control, independence and inclusion. Peoples support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.

• The service had improved since the last inspection. Staff were aware of safeguarding procedures and had been provided with training on recognising and reporting abuse to promote people’s safety. Care plans contained person-centred information so that individual needs were identified. Written information had been made available in accessible formats to support people’s understanding. Audits carried out were monitored to identify any issues and act on these.

• People told us the staff were “Nice” and “Good.” They were positive about how they were treated by staff. People received personalised support from staff who knew them well. Staff had built positive relationships with people living in the service. Staff supported people to retain their independence.

• People felt safe living at Wheatley Lane. Recruitment processes were robust and thorough checks were completed before staff started working in the home. We saw there were sufficient numbers of staff on duty to make sure people’s care needs were met. Staff supported people safely with their medicines.

• Risks to people were assessed and kept under review. People’s needs were assessed and support plans were developed to guide staff in how to support each person. People were involved in discussions about their support.

• Staff had received training and supervision to ensure they had the knowledge to provide people with appropriate care.

• People had access to a range of health professionals as required, to promote people’s health.

• People felt able to raise any concerns with the registered manager or provider and were confident they would be addressed. Staff felt well supported by the registered manager and we observed the staff team work well together.

• The registered manager and provider undertook a range of quality checks and audits of the service to make sure the care and support provided was of a good standard. This supported the continuous improvement of the service.

• The service met the characteristics of good in all key questions.

• More information is in the full report.

Rating at last inspection: At the last inspection the service was rated requires improvement (published 16 March 2018).

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating awarded at the last inspection.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor this service. We plan to complete a further inspection in line with our re-inspection schedule for those services rated good.