The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Woodvale in Nottingham, inadequate, and placed it in special measures following an inspection in April.
Woodvale is a specialist ‘extra care’ housing scheme providing personal care to people living in their own flats and bungalows.
A focused inspection of the areas of safe, effective and well-led was carried out following a review of the information held about this service.
Following the inspection, the overall rating for the service has gone down from good to inadequate. Safe has gone down from good to inadequate, well-led has gone down from requires improvement to inadequate, and effective has gone down from good to requires improvement.
The service is in special measures which means it will be kept under review and, if CQC do not propose to cancel the provider's registration, they will be re-inspected within six months to check for significant improvements.
Greg Rielly, CQC deputy director of operations in the midlands, said:
“When we inspected Woodvale, it was concerning that the level of care had deteriorated significantly since we last inspected meaning people weren’t getting the appropriate level of care.
“People told us they didn’t always have positive interactions with staff during their care visits. Some said they felt they were annoying staff, they got rushed to do tasks and weren’t being listened to if they got upset.
“Care plans were poor and weren’t updated to support people or protect them from further harm. We saw plans that hadn’t been updated following a person who was at risk of falls and another whose distress triggers weren’t updated, meaning these things could happen again because staff can’t learn from them.
“We saw similar concerns with safeguarding issues which weren’t always being reported properly meaning the relevant authorities wouldn’t be aware and lessons weren’t being learned to protect people from harm.
“In addition, our inspectors saw that the way medications were issued, wasn’t safe, and only one member of staff had their competency checked in relation to this despite several recent medication errors.
“However, we did also see some positive areas of care. The provider had a wellbeing coordinator who helped people to access healthcare services and arranged activities such as armchair exercises, community raffles and social events.
“We will continue to monitor the service closely to ensure significant improvements are made. If we are not assured people are receiving safe care, we will not hesitate to take enforcement action to ensure people are receiving the high standard of care they deserve.”
Inspectors found:
- People's ability to make their own decisions were not always considered by the provider
- Not all staff had completed autism training. This is a legal requirement of the Health and Care Act 2022
- People were not always protected from the risk of abuse
- Systems were not consistently used for staff to receive supervision or raise any concerns
- Complaints and concerns were not documented meaning actions or improvements could not always be made
- Systems and processes had not been followed to maintain quality standards and improve care.
However:
- Staff were recruited safely by the provider. This included ensuring staff had Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks carried out, exploring gaps in employment history, and obtaining references
- People that inspectors spoke with were happy about the support they received to keep their homes clean.