Westmead

Updated 15 April 2024

This assessment was carried out on 5 dates between 24 April and 31 July 2024. Westmead is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care to up to 9 people. At the time of our assessment, 9 people were living at the home. The service provides support to people with learning disabilities, autistic spectrum disorder, mental health concerns and people who display behaviours that challenge. Support was provided to people in their own individualised flats and bungalows. This assessment was prompted by concerns relating to staffing levels, managing people’s needs, medication management, the living environment and the effectiveness of leaders. At this assessment we found 7 breaches of regulation which concerned person-centred care, safe care and treatment, safeguarding people from abuse, premises and equipment, responding to complaints, staffing and good governance. The provider could not demonstrate that people were supported by sufficient numbers of suitably skilled and deployed staff. Medicines were not safely managed and risks to people had not been assessed, monitored and reviewed. Systems relating to people’s finances and expenditure were not robust. The living environment was not adequately maintained, which meant there were hazards to people in their own living spaces. The complaints process had not been followed; records to demonstrate concerns had been suitably dealt with were not made. Leaders were unable to demonstrate robust oversight of the quality of care as insufficient checks were being carried out. Values described by leaders about how the organisation should be run were not being followed. Decisions had been made to move 2 people on from this service, but evidence to support this was not provided by leaders. Significant gaps in processes to demonstrate oversight and governance were found.

Updated 15 April 2024

Some people were not supported to access their local community which the provider told us was due to a lack of drivers. People were also not supported to achieve their goals due to an insufficient number of suitably qualified staff to drive allocated vehicles. People were not safeguarded from the risk of financial abuse. Systems for allocating staff hours to people, charges relating to trips into the community and giving people choice over holidays were different for different people. This did not ensure equity in people’s outcomes. Some of the accommodation people lived in was not suitable for meeting their needs and meant there was a risk of harm. People were not cared for by teams of staff who could demonstrate sufficient knowledge about people’s care needs and how to de-escalate situations where behaviours which can challenge others were evident. People’s relatives did not feel sufficiently involved in the planning of their loved one’s care. Where concerns had been raised, relatives did not feel listened to by the provider.