About the service Westerley Care Home is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care to up to 30 people. The service provides support to older people, some of who may be living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 28 people using the service.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People and their relatives told us the service was safe and expressed their satisfaction with the care provided. Staff had received training in safeguarding and felt confident in reporting any concerns to the provider or to external organisations. The provider had effective systems in place, had made referrals and investigated any concerns where appropriate.
Assessments of any risks to people’s safety and welfare had been completed and plans put into place to help mitigate these risks. Staff were aware of the action they needed to take to help keep people safe and had access to up-to date guidance. Any incidents or accidents were recorded and monitored by the provider to ensure appropriate action was taken in response.
There was enough staff. Members of staff were seen to be attentive and able to respond promptly to people. The provider monitored staff deployment and ensured safe staffing levels were maintained. Staff recruitment was safe and pre-employment checks completed.
Medicines were managed safely and regular audits completed. We were assured by the measures taken to help ensure the prevention and control of infection.
People’s needs and choices were assessed before admission to the service and they were supported to express their views and preferences regarding their care.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives. Staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
Staff were trained and felt supported in their roles. Daily handovers, regular team meetings and supervision sessions provided staff with the opportunity to reflect on their practice and offer feedback or suggestions to the management team.
People, relatives and staff spoke positively about the management of the service. We were told the management team were approachable and supportive. There were regular opportunities provided to people, relatives, staff and visiting professionals to communicate with the provider, who confirmed they used all information received with a view to improve the service.
The provider used a range of audits and checks to monitor the quality of the care at the service. They had identified ways in which these could be improved and had plans in place to address this. The provider was keen to be able to demonstrate more efficiently a clear audit trail of the quality assurances processes and the action taken to improve outcomes for people.
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 requires improvement (published 10 March 2021).
Why we inspected
We received concerns in relation to safeguarding and staffing. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, effective and well-led only.
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 based on the findings of this inspection.
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.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Westerley Care Home 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.