Westley Court Care Home

Updated 5 December 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.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of 2 inspectors and a specialist nurse advisor.

Service and service type

Westley Court Care Home 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. Westley Court Care Home is a care home with nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. A new manager had been appointed and was in the process of applying to become registered with CQC.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced on the first day. Subsequent visits were announced.

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 Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. 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 6 people living at the home and 4 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 13 members of staff including the manager, regional manager, nurses, carers, and auxiliary staff.

We looked at 8 people's care and medication records, handovers, staff files and training records. After the inspection site visit, we reviewed further records relating to the safety, quality and management of the service.

Updated 5 December 2023

About the service

Westley Court Care Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 33 people. At the time of our inspection there were 25 people using the service. The service provides support to people under and over 65 with varying needs, including some people living with dementia. The care home provides support to people over 2 floors, both of which have adapted facilities.

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

Risks to people’s health and well-being were not always managed safely and guidance and advice from professionals was not always followed. Risks identified during the inspection were discussed with the manager who addressed them immediately. Medicines were not always managed in a safe way. People and their relatives had mixed views on staffing levels. At the time of inspection the provider was recruiting to a number of vacancies.

People told us staff were kind and caring and people told us they felt safe. Staff respected people’s privacy.

Further improvements could be made to the environment to support people living with dementia. Some areas of the home were tired and in need of refurbishment. The manager advised a programme of refurbishment was planned to start in December 2023. Staff had received training relevant to people’s needs.

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.

People and their relatives told us they were happy with the care provided and spoke positively about staff.

Care records were detailed but sometimes contained conflicting and out of date information. Activities were limited due to vacancies in this area. However, we saw a group activity taking place and evidence of some one to one engagement for people who spent time in their rooms.

Management changes had recently occurred, the manager and regional manager had only been in post a few weeks at the time of our inspection. There were a variety of audits in place to provide the manager with oversight of the service, however these were not fully embedded and had not been consistently undertaken prior to the new manager starting. Audits which had been completed had not identified some of the shortfalls found at 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 this service was good (published 22 March 2019).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about people's nursing care needs,

medicines management, and staffing. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement 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.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well led sections of this full report.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

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

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to the safe care and treatment and good governance at this inspection.

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

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.