The Willows

Updated 24 March 2022

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of the Care Quality Commission’s response to care homes with outbreaks of COVID-19, we are conducting reviews to ensure that the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) practice is safe and that services are compliant with IPC measures. This was a targeted inspection looking at the IPC practices the provider has in place. We also asked the provider about any staffing pressures the service was experiencing and whether this was having an impact on the service.

This inspection took place on 28 February 2022 and was announced. We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection.

Updated 24 March 2022

About the service

The Willows is a residential care home providing personal care to 29 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 40 people.

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

We received very positive views from people about the support provided to them. People said they felt safe and staff were kind and respectful.

Staff had positive links with health care professionals, which promoted people’s health and wellbeing. People’s received their medicines on time and safely.

Care and support were tailored to each person's needs and preferences. People and their relatives were involved in developing and updating their care plan. Staff had good knowledge of people and spent time chatting with them about their life history and family.

Staff had received training and support to enable them to carry out their role. We made a recommendation about training to ensure staff continued to receive up to date training to meet people’s needs. Recruitment checks were carried out to ensure staff were suitable to work in the service.

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 interest; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The registered manager led by example to ensure people received a good service. People and staff told us the registered manager was approachable and listened to them when they had any concerns. Feedback was used to make continuous improvements to the service.

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 Good (published 24 January 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.