Archived: Willowbrook

Updated 5 April 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

The inspection was prompted in part by notification of an incident which impacted on some people who used the service. This incident is subject to a criminal investigation and as a result this inspection did not examine the circumstances of the incident.

However, the information shared with CQC about the incident indicated potential concerns about the management of risk in regards to recruitment practices.

Inspection team:

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type: Willowbrook provides personal care and support to people living in their own home. CQC regulates the personal care provided.

At the time of our inspection, there was no registered manager in place.

Notice of inspection:

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection site visit because we needed to be a sure a manager and staff would be available to speak with us.

The inspection visit took place on 8 March 2019.

What we did:

We reviewed information we held about the service such as statutory notifications about incidents that had occurred at the service. We looked at two care plans, staff duty rotas, staff call allocation sheets, records of accidents and incidents, quality monitoring records and medicine records. We spoke with seven people that used the service and 4 care staff members. We spoke with the area manager, scheme manager, head of retirement living and the quality & outcomes manager.

Updated 5 April 2019

About the service: Willowbrook provides personal care and support to people who live in their own home within a shared building of 61 flats. This can be older people or younger adults who may have a physical disability or may be living with dementia. At the time of our inspection visit there were 14 people living at Willowbrook who received personal care support.

People’s experience of using this service:

• People felt safe living at Willowbrook and with the staff that supported them.

• The provider’s recruitment procedures had not been followed consistently to ensure staff were safely recruited.

• Risks related to people’s health and the environment were identified and acted upon. However, records were not always clear about the management of risk.

• Staff knew how to protect people from potential abuse and avoidable harm to keep them safe.

• Medicines were managed safely and people received them as prescribed.

• There were enough staff to support people’s needs including any emergency care needs.

• People's needs were assessed before they lived at Willowbrook and staff completed training to ensure people’s needs could be met safely and effectively.

• People said staff were caring.

• Staff knew people well so they could provide them with care and support in ways they preferred.

• People were provided with support to access healthcare professionals when needed.

• People's right to make their own decisions about their care were respected and supported by staff who understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

• People’s care plans contained instructions for staff to follow to ensure people received the personalised care and support they had agreed.

• Staff understood the importance of respecting people’s privacy and dignity and aimed to support people to be as independent as possible.

• The provider had various quality monitoring systems to check people received safe care and support in accordance with the providers policies and procedures.

• Overall, people were happy living at Willowbrook. People knew of the complaints process should they have any concerns about the service.

• At the time of our visit there was no registered manager in post. The service was being supported by two management staff, these being an area manager, and scheme manager.

Rating at last inspection: This was the first inspection to this service since they were registered under the current provider in August 2018.

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection although it was brought forward due to information on risk reported to us that we needed to be assured had effectively been managed.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.