21 December 2020
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Willows Care Home is a residential care home providing nursing and personal care to people, some of whom may have dementia. The home can support up to 72 people and at the time of the inspection, 51 people were living in the home. It is an adapted building with three floors, each with separate facilities, including en-suite bathrooms.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
We found the service continued to be safe and people were protected from the risk of avoidable harm and abuse. Medicines were managed safely and there were robust procedures in place for the administration, recording and storing of all medicines. Audits identified medicine errors and action was taken to investigate them and make improvements.
There were appropriate numbers of staff and they were recruited safely. The provider ensured infection control procedures were in place and there was guidance for people, staff and visitors during the Covid-19 pandemic to keep them safe. Risks to people were identified and managed. The premises, installations and equipment were serviced and maintained to ensure the home environment was safe.
The registered manager carried out audits and inspections to check correct procedures were being followed by staff. The provider was meeting regulatory requirements and notifications of incidents were submitted to us. People and relatives told us the service was well managed. People and relatives were given opportunities to provide feedback about the quality of the service. The provider had identified where improvements were needed in the home and had action plans in place to address them.
Staff were kind and compassionate towards people in the home. There was a positive and open culture and discussions were held with people and relatives to obtain their feedback. Team meetings with staff were held with the management team to discuss important topics and go through any issues. Staff felt able to voice their concerns to the management team. Staff worked well with health professionals and other agencies to ensure people’s health and wellbeing were maintained.
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 Good (published 10 May 2019).
Why we inspected
We received concerns in relation to the management of the service, infection control procedures, medicine management, staffing levels and the culture of the home, which could put people at risk of unsafe care. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.
We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were received in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.
The overall rating for the service has remained Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
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.