1 June 2023
During a routine inspection
About the service
Willowbeech is a residential care home providing personal care to people with learning disabilities and autistic people. The service can support up to 5 people. At the time of the inspection 4 people were living there.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Right Support:
Not all risks to people had been assessed or reviewed. However, relatives told us staff understood people’s individual needs in practice as they often had familiar staff and those staff knew them well. We observed staff to be kind when providing support.
People were not supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not support this practice.
Right Care:
Support plans were not detailed, or person-centred. Support plans did not include current information to guide staff on how to provide care and support. A health and social care professional told us, “There is no effective use of care planning and care plans were outdated significantly. Additionally, strategies to promote effective care have been ignored.”
Staff understood how to protect people from abuse. Relatives told us they had been invited to the home to provide training to new staff about their loved one, including their family history and likes and dislikes. However, records had not been updated to reflect this. People could communicate with staff and during observations, appeared to understand information given to them because staff supported them consistently and understood their individual routines.
Right Culture:
The provider's monitoring processes were not always effective in helping to ensure people consistently received good quality care and support.
Staff told us they felt supported by the management of the service, and together with the registered manager, the team had identified opportunities for improvement which had provided people with more choice and freedom. An example of this was the home’s “Stay Up Late” campaign, with a focus on activities in the evening and the option of a house party. One staff member stated, “A lot of changes have already happened with the new registered manager. Things are fast paced and exciting at the moment. The registered manager also genuinely cares about staff welfare so we feel looked after too.”
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Rating at last inspection
This service was registered with us on 9 February 2022 and this is the first inspection.
The last rating for the service under the previous provider was good, published on 15 January 2020.
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
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.
Enforcement and recommendations
We have identified breaches in relation to person-centred care and good governance at this inspection.
We made a recommendation about how the home meets the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act, a recommendation about complaints and a recommendation about people’s risk assessments.
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.