Wey View

Updated 22 December 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 carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Wey View 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.

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced. Inspection activity started on 30 September 2022 and ended on 10 October 2022. We visited the home on 30 September 2022.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since its registration, including notifications of significant incidents. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager and three members of care staff. People who lived at the service were not able to tell us directly about the care and support they received. We therefore used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We spoke with six relatives to hear their views about the care and support their family members received.

We checked two people’s care records, including their risk assessments and support plans, recruitment records for two staff, quality assurance checks and audits, the business continuity plan, the service development plan, and the arrangements for managing medicines.

Updated 22 December 2022

About the service

Wey View is a care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to 10 people with learning disabilities and/or autism spectrum condition. There were five people living at the home at the time of our inspection.

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

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.

The service was not always able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right support:

The number of staff on duty each day was sufficient to keep people safe, but did not reflect the number of commissioned staffing hours each day. This meant some people were not receiving personalised support to ensure they had opportunities to enjoy meaningful activities, participation in their community and a good quality of life. The provider was aware of concerns raised by relatives and staff about restricted opportunities for people to take part in activities or to access the community but had not effectively addressed these concerns.

The provider was aware of concerns raised by relatives and staff that people were not receiving their commissioned support hours. Some relatives felt their family members were not enjoying a good quality of life because they were not receiving support to access their community or to take part in meaningful activities. However, the provider had not acted to ensure people received the support they needed to live fulfilling and meaningful lives.

Right care:

Staff knew how to recognise and report abuse or poor practice. When safeguarding concerns had been raised, these had been reported and investigated. The provider’s recruitment procedures helped ensure only suitable staff were employed.

Medicines were managed safely. Risk assessments were in place to help keep people safe. Accidents and incidents were reviewed and action taken to help prevent similar events happening again. The home was clean and hygienic and staff understood how to minimise the risk of infection.

People who did not use speech were supported to express their needs and wishes through alternative methods of communication. 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 interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The provider’s positive behaviour support (PBS) team had developed individual PBS plans for people, which contained guidance for staff about the potential triggers for emotional reactions and strategies for staff to employ when responding to the reactions.

Right culture:

There had been a number of management changes in the months prior to our inspection, which had affected the consistency of leadership and communication with relatives. Relatives told us communication with them had recently improved and we found the registered manager had improved several aspects of the service since taking up their post, including quality monitoring systems.

People who lived at the home, their relatives and staff had opportunities to give feedback about the service. The registered manager supported staff well and was available for advice and guidance. Team meetings took place regularly, to which staff were encouraged to contribute. The service had established effective working relationships with other professionals involved in people’s care.

Relatives knew how to complain and felt able to raise concerns if necessary. A complaint from two relatives about the support their family member was receiving was being managed in line with the provider’s complaints procedure at the time of our inspection.

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 the service was good, published on 22 October 2020.

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to staffing and opportunities for people to take part in activities or to access the community. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, responsive and well-led only.

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.

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 remained good based on the findings of this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the responsive section of this report. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.