Westdale Residential Care Home

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture. The service was previously rated good. The service is still rated good. This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred care.

This service scored 79 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The service had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities. Staff spoke highly of the culture in the care home and explained that they felt people always received good quality person centred support. At the time of the assessment, Westdale Care Home had charitable status and was owned by Quaker led community - this is a sector of Christianity. There were no expectations of people using the service to follow Quaker religious beliefs. All people we spoke to explained that the service ran in a none profit way following the Quaker principles. They felt this culture resulted in good quality care.

The service had inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. The leaders supported positive values of their workforce and organisation. The registered manager had the skill and knowledge to lead effectively. They did so with integrity, openness and honesty. We observed the registered manager modelled positive behaviour to the care staff. We observed that staff regularly approached the registered manager for guidance. A staff member talked about the registered manager and said, “He looks after staff wellbeing. He is there when you need him but there is obviously a line as a manager. He can have a joke but it’s also clear who he is. The roles are clear, but he doesn’t make us feel less than him.”

The service fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. Staff told us they felt able to raise any concerns they wanted, and that they would be listened too. There was an online system to allow staff to leave anonymous concerns if they felt unable to speak up. However, staff told us that they did not feel they needed to use this.

The service strongly valued diversity in their workforce. They had an inclusive and fair culture which had improved equality and equity for people who work for them. Staff explained that the management team understood their unique needs and worked hard to support their needs. Staff felt it was an equitable workplace and this meant staff were highly motivated. Leaders described using innovative and creative ways to invest, support and make reasonable adjustments for disabled staff to carry out their roles. We also observed this in practice. The registered manager had recently created a job progression pathway, where staff who may want to retire due to age or physical health could still work as a mentor for new staff. The registered manager felt it was important to value staff who had worked a long time at the service and had valuable skills to share with others but may not feel able to physically continue the role as before.

The service had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. They used these to manage and deliver good quality and sustainable care. The registered manager had clear audits in place, and staff were also encouraged to take auditing responsibilities. During the assessment, we identified some concerns with medicines and physical health care plans. Prompt action was taken to improve these areas and the associated audits.

The service clearly understood and carried out their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, and services worked seamlessly for people. They always shared information and learning with partners and collaborate for improvement. The registered manager explained, “With our charitable status, one of our core values is helping the community.” The service had a minibus. They shared this bus with a local volunteer network, this meant that volunteers could use the minibus to support other people who did not live at Westdale Care Home. The service had supported a person who identified as gay. This had resulted in close links with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ+) community – who had provided training and support for staff and people at the service. The LGBTQ+ community had also used an area of the care home for meetings.

The service focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They actively contribute to safe, effective practice and research. The service had taken part in a university research study into the impact of living in a care home as a gay person.