Whipton Barton Residential Home consists of two attached three bedroomed bungalows. There is no internal access between the bungalows. This means that you have to leave one bungalow to access the other.We conducted an unannounced inspection on 24 March 2012. On the day of our visit there were six people living in the home.
The people who used the service at Whipton Barton had a learning disability and none of these people were able to tell us about their experiences. To help us to understand their experiences we used our SOFI (Short Observational Framework for Inspection) tool. The SOFI tool allowed us to spend time watching what was going on in the service and helped us to record how people spent their time, the type of support they got and whether they had positive experiences.
We saw that staff treated people with consideration and respect. For example, we saw that staff quickly responded to people's care needs to ensure that they were kept comfortable and informed about what was happening, such as when their meal would be ready, what the meal was and what was happening during the day, such as trips out.
Staff had knowledge of privacy, dignity, independence and human rights. For example, how to maintain privacy and dignity when assisting with personal care.
They showed an understanding of the need to encourage people to be involved in their care. For example, staff recognised the need to promote positive experiences for people to aid their wellbeing through offering a range of activities to choose to partake in or spending one-to-one time with them.
Care plans were up-to-date and were written with clear instructions. They were broken down into separate sections, making it easier to find relevant information, for example, physical health needs, mobility, family relationships, social interactions and nutrition.
We spoke with staff about their understanding of what constituted abuse and how to raise concerns. They demonstrated a good understanding of what kinds of things might constitute abuse, and knew where they should go to report any suspicions they may have. Staff we spoke with felt confident about responding to changing needs and knew what signs of abuse to look out for during their daily practice.
On our arrival at Whipton Barton at 8.45am, we found that one bungalow did not have a staff member present and therefore was left unattended. We found that the two staff on duty were assisting a person in the other bungalow. This meant that three people living at the home were left unattended for a period of time.
We saw that the home carried out quality assurance processes by means of site visits and ongoing assessments to monitor the quality of the service. These were completed by a manager from Guinness Care and Support Limited and the registered manager. We saw evidence of site visits which had been conducted, with the last being in February 2012. At these visits the general maintenance of the home was checked, health and safety, policies and procedures, people's general care and welfare and staff training. The most recent site visit demonstrated a sense of satisfaction with the home's standards of care and general maintenance.