22 February 2022
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Wharfedale House- Care Home Physical Disabilities is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to 14 people aged 18 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 18 people. The accommodation is purpose built to accommodate people with a physical disability and all rooms have en-suite bathroom facilities, there are several containing kitchen facilities.
People's experience of using this service and what we found
We found there was enough staff however the service was dependent on agency staff. People told us they did not want to be supported by agency staff who did not know their needs “they haven’t even read my care plan, they don’t know me”.
The service had improved how agency staff record information related to the administration of people’s medicines. An electronic system had been implemented and all staff were trained. All staff who administered medication had been trained.
The leadership team within the home had undergone significant changes since our last inspection. This included several periods where the service did not have a manager; however, a new manager had been recruited and started in January 2022. Staff and people using the service told us they felt the service was improving under the new leadership “things have started to get better, yes there is improvement”.
The provider audited the service however, some of the audits we received were not robust. We saw evidence accidents and incidents were being recorded however, there was no analysis to identify patterns and trends which could be addressed and used to reduce any apparent risks. We recommend the provider reviews how effective their systems are and takes action to update their practice accordingly.
The provider had addressed and achieved compliance in relation to previously identified breaches of regulation 12 and regulation 17.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 11 March 2021) and there were 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
This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the 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 COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.
We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
The overall rating for the service has remained requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection. We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvement. Please see the safe, responsive and well-led sections of this full report. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Enforcement and recommendation
We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection.
We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.
We made a recommendation for the provider to review their implementation of effective quality assurance processes.
Follow up
We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will work with the local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.