- Care home
The Willows
Report from 22 March 2024 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. 'Right support, right care, right culture' is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it. The Willows is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to 6 people. The service supports people with learning disabilities and autism. At the time of our assessment there were 6 people using the service. We carried out this assessment between 11 and 19 April 2024. We looked at how the service assessed and planned for people's care needs, and how they trained and supervised staff to support people according to their needs and preferences. People were unable to verbally give feedback about their care and support so we observed care and support in communal areas. We spoke with 2 relatives and 7 staff. We reviewed 2 people’s care plans, 2 staff recruitment records as well as general records for the service. These included staff training records, meeting records, policies and procedures and audits.
People's experience of this service
Right Support: There was a robust auditing process in place that helped to identify areas for improvement and minimise impact on people’s care and safety. Staff supported people to take part in activities of their choice. People were supported to pursue interests in their local area. People's rooms were personalised. Staff supported people in a clean and well-equipped environment. Right Care: People were protected from poor care and abuse. The provider had policies in place and staff had been trained. Safeguarding concerns were reported to the appropriate authorities and the management team worked with the local safeguarding teams to ensure any issues were fully investigated. Risk assessments gave staff enough information to provide safe care. Care plans were detailed and people's preferences and choices were documented. There were enough staff deployed to provide support for people. However, staff had not always been effectively deployed to ensure that staff with the right skills, training and experience were on shift. This evidenced that the safe domain was not consistently good. Staff knew people well and understood how to provide safe care. A relative said, “I am very happy with the care and have no concerns with the care and support.” Right Culture: A new registered manager had started working at the service who was supported by senior management. The registered manager worked with the wider management team to embed the quality monitoring and audit processes. The management team had a good oversight of the care and support provided. The quality monitoring processes were embedded and were continuously reviewed to ensure they gave a good oversight of the service. 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.