Wilkinson Park

Updated 24 October 2023

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

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 3 inspectors.

Service and service type

Wilkinson Park is a ‘care home.’ People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us.

Wilkinson Park is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

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.

The manager became registered with CQC following our second visit to the service.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

Inspection activity started on 27 June 2023 and ended on the 22 August 2023. We visited the service on the 27 June 2023 and 13 July 2023. We reviewed information the registered manager sent us electronically following our visits to the service.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager, compliance manager, support staff, including agency staff, the administrator and chef. We also spoke with 8 people and 7 relatives. We also received feedback from 11 health and social care professionals and spoke with the fire safety manager from Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service. We reviewed records relating to people’s care and medicines and records relating to staff and the management of the service.

Updated 24 October 2023

About the service

Wilkinson Park is a residential care home which provides personal care for up to 21 people, including people with learning disabilities and those with complex behaviours. Accommodation is provided over two floors and there are three separate accommodation areas where people live more independently. There were 19 people using the service 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.

Right Support:

An effective system to ensure risks were assessed, monitored, and managed was not fully in place. We identified shortfalls relating to the safety and security of the premises, infection control and cleanliness relating to one person’s room and the safety of visitors to the service.

There were sufficient staff deployed to meet people’s needs.

The service was working within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and if needed, appropriate legal authorisations were in place to deprive a person of their liberty.

Right Care:

Some people told us they were bored. Records of activities which people took part in were not always detailed or evidenced meaningful occupation.

Whilst a staff training and support system was in place; records relating to agency staff did not always demonstrate what training they had undertaken to meet the specific needs of people who lived at the service.

Right Culture:

An effective system to monitor the quality and safety of the service was not fully in place.

Management staff gave us examples of how being at the service, with the support of staff, had led to an improvement in people's independence and wellbeing. They also explained how several people had moved onto independent living.

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 requires improvement (published 27 October 2022). There were breaches of the regulations relating to safe care and treatment, good governance, and the notification of incidents. We asked the provider to send us an improvement plan which detailed the actions they had taken/were going to take in relation to the issues identified during inspection. At this inspection, whilst action had been taken to improve in certain areas and the provider was no longer in breach of the regulations relating to safe care and treatment and the notification of incidents, further improvements were required and the provider remained in breach of the regulation relating to good governance.

Why we inspected

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their improvement plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. Prior to our inspection, we also received concerns relating to the security of the service and staff training including agency staff.

This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions of safe, effective, responsive, and well-led which contain those requirements.

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 the caring key question not inspected, we used the rating awarded at the last comprehensive inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has remained requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the full report below.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Wilkinson Park on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified 1 breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 during this inspection. This related to good governance.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

We have made recommendations in the effective, responsive, and well led key questions in relation to records relating to agency staff training, the monitoring of complaints and communication and engagement. Please see these sections for further details.

Follow up

We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will work with the local authority to monitor progress. We will also request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.