Woodside Grange Care Home

Updated 14 January 2022

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.

The service had been identified for use by the Local Authority as a designated care setting for people discharged from hospital with a positive COVID-19 status. This targeted inspection was to ensure that the service was compliant with infection prevention and control measures.

This inspection took place on 11 January 2022 and was announced. We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection.

Updated 14 January 2022

About the service

Woodside Grange Care Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care for up to 121 people. The home supported people with varied needs in six areas, spread across three floors in a purpose-built building. This included older people, people living with a dementia and people with a learning disability or autism. Eighty-five people were using the service when we inspected.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The people we spoke with were very happy with the care they received at Woodside Grange. One person told us, “I’ve got everything I need here; I can’t think of anywhere else that would be suitable. Nothing could be better in my point of view; everything is here and that suits me. I’m doing well here.” Another person said, “Everything is tickety-boo here.”

People’s relatives were also happy with the home. One relative told us, “We are very pleased with Woodside; I think the home is as good as you are going to get.”

Records had improved since our last inspection. However, we found some areas that still needed more work. We discussed this with the management team and they assured us that further work would be done to make the necessary improvements. Quality checks were taking place regularly. Staff felt well supported and spoke highly of the manager.

The home was clean and tidy and safe infection control procedures were followed. Medicines were administered safely but some improvement was needed in medicines records. Risk assessments were in place to ensure staff had the information necessary to minimise risk to people. There were enough staff on duty to meet people’s needs. Safe recruitment procedures were followed.

A good selection of healthy food options were offered at mealtimes and people enjoyed the food provided. However, people’s special dietary needs were not always correctly recorded. Changes were made following our visit to improve this. The environment was homely with a number of pleasant communal areas for people to spend time and a specially adapted Covid safe visiting space. Staff had received all necessary training. External health professionals were contacted whenever required.

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.

Staff treated people with dignity and respected their privacy and independence. We observed positive interactions between staff and people living at the home. One person told us, “You see the same staff and get to know them, you have a bit of a banter.”

People were involved in decisions about their care and detailed care plans reflected people’s preferences. Staff were doing their best to ensure people were kept occupied and entertained despite limits on the activities that could take place during the pandemic. People were supported to keep in touch with loved ones when they were not able to see them. Any complaints received were handled appropriately.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, 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 providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of right support, right care, right culture in the area of the home where people with a learning disability were living. People were supported to have maximum choice and control and their independence was encouraged. People received care and support that was adapted to their individual preferences. The environment was very homely and adapted to reflect people’s likes and dislikes. Bedrooms were decorated in a very personalised way.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 21 January 2020) and there were two breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection to check the provider had followed their action plan, to confirm they now met legal requirements and see whether improvements had been made since our last inspection.

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 coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.