Weston House

Updated 15 July 2022

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of two inspectors and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Weston House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Weston House a care home with nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. However, the provider was in the process of recruiting a registered manager. The home was being supported by an interim manager and the provider’s wider management team at the time of our inspection.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people and five relatives. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We reviewed seven people’s care records and multiple medicines records. We also spoke to ten members of staff including the area manager, quality improvement manager, deputy manager, nurses, care assistants and the cook.

Updated 15 July 2022

About the service

Weston House is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 48 people across four separate units. The service provides support to older people some of whom are living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 42 people using the service.

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

People were not always aware of the new management team, however felt able to speak with staff should they have any feedback. Quality assurance tools were not always completed in a timely or effective way to ensure improvements required were identified and actioned.

People were supported by safely recruited staff who had received training. People felt able to share concerns with staff should they arise. People were supported in a timely and caring way by enough staff. People told us they received their medicines as prescribed by trained staff.

People were supported by staff who had received training in and were adhering to infection control guidelines. People were supported to have visitors whenever they would like these.

People had access to healthcare professionals should they require these. Accidents and incidents were reviewed by the management team so that lessons could be learned when things went wrong.

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.

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 good (published 12 January 2019). At this inspection the rating has remained the same.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by concerns we had received about medicines, assessment of risk and how staff were wearing their protective clothing, such as masks, gloves and aprons. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

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.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. However, improvements were required to the oversight at the service. Please see the safe and well led sections of this full report.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.