Archived: Wealstone Residential Care Home

Updated 5 February 2015

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 20 November 2014 and was unannounced.

The inspection team consisted of an inspector, 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. They expert-by-experience on this inspection had experience of using services for older people.

Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. Before our inspection, we reviewed the information in the PIR along with information we held about the home, which included notifications they had sent us. We spoke with four social care professionals before this inspection. They did not report any concerns to us. We contacted three GP practices to ascertain their views on the services provided.

During the visit we spoke with 13 people who lived at the home, eight of their friends or relatives, four care staff, the head chef, the registered manager and the service manager. We observed care and support in communal areas and the dining room during lunchtime.

We reviewed a range of records about people’s care and how the home was managed. These included the care plans for six people, the training and induction records for five staff employed at the home, maintenance records, the medication records for six people and quality assurance audits that the management team had completed.

Updated 5 February 2015

This inspection took place on 20 November 2014 and was unannounced. The previous inspection took place on 4 October 2013. The provider had met the standards that were inspected.

The service has a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Wealstone is a single storey residential care home which has 42 single bedrooms, seven of which have en-suite facilities. Within the 42 beds, there is a separate 11 bedded unit called Bluebells that provides care for people with mild dementia.

People were supported by staff who had the required skills to promote their safety and welfare. Although there were shortfalls for training around the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), the registered manager had provisions in place to ensure all staff were to receive this training and had provided pre-reading course material to all staff. The provider had a rolling training programme in place.

The provider had robust and effective recruitment processes in place so that people were supported by staff of a suitable character. Staffing numbers were sufficient to meet the needs of the people who used the service.

Medicines were managed safely although medicines were not always kept at the required temperature when refrigerated.

People’s nutritional needs had been assessed and staff were knowledgeable of people’s nutritional needs. People told us they had plenty of choices with regards to what they wanted to eat.

People told us that staff were caring and we saw good interactions between people who used the service and the staff team. People were involved in the planning of their care and had an opportunity to say what was important to them.

We found that people had an opportunity to take part in the activities they enjoyed inside the home and out in the community. Relatives told us they had no complaints about the service. They told us they knew how to make a complaint and felt the manager was approachable.

Systems were in place for checking on the quality of service provided and processes were in place to deal with any areas identified for improvement. The manager had received several awards as a recognition of her good practice she began work at the home.