Archived: Wellbridge House

Updated 18 May 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

We reviewed notifications of incidents that the provider had sent us. Notifications are information about specific important events the service is legally required to send to us.

Before our inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service, including the Provider Information Return (PIR). The PIR is a document we ask the provider to complete to give us information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We visited the service on 24 March 2016. Our visit was unannounced and the inspection team consisted of two inspectors.

We observed care and support in shared areas, spoke with seven people in private and looked at the care records for two people. We also looked at a number of different records that related to how the service was managed. We spoke with six people as well as the registered manager and five support staff.

Updated 18 May 2016

Wellbridge House is registered to provide personal care for people in accommodation where the service is run from. Second Step are the lead organisation and other organisations are partners. The service provides care to up to 10 people with mental health needs. There are also services run by the women's mental health organization Missing Link, Avon, and Wiltshire NHS Partnership Trust (AWP) from the same location. There were nine people using the service on the day of our visit. People stay at the service for around 12 months.

The inspection took place on 24 March 2016 and was unannounced. This was the first inspection of the service since it was registered with us.

There was a registered manager for the service. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People’s privacy was respected however, people told us that staff entered bedrooms without permission to do room checks .This could compromise the rights of the people who occupy those rooms. However the registered manager told us after the inspection that staff do not routinely enter clients rooms without prior notice. Room checks were completed on a weekly basis. The time and day was agreed with the client in advance between the client and their assigned worker. Clients were written to in advance to state the procedure that was followed.

People were supported to stay safe by the staff. Staff were competent in their understanding of the subject of abuse. Staff were able to tell us what to do if they were concerned about someone. They had attended training to help them understand what abuse was and knew who to report concerns if they had them.

People felt they were well supported with their mental health needs and they understood the aims of the service. They told us they were there to gain confidence and to recover from their mental health issues. They also said they were achieving these aims during their time at the service.

People were supported by staff with a good understanding of their needs and the care they required. The staff were trained and knew how to provide them with effective support. People knew how to make their views known and there was an effective system in place to receive and address complaints and concerns.

There were systems in place to ensure that people’s rights were protected if they did not have the mental capacity. There was guidance in place for staff to follow about the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

There was enough staff to support people with their mental health needs and provide a caring and effective service. People told us they were treated in a kind way by the staff. The staff engaged people in social activities, household tasks and other activities of daily living. Staff had a caring and attentive approach. Staff knew people well and provided them with a service that met their needs.

Care records set out how people wanted to be supported by the staff in their recovery programmes. Staff encouraged people to make choices and helped them to be independent.

People benefited because the quality of care and service they received was checked and monitored. Audits on the care and service were completed regularly. People were asked for their views of the service as part of this process.