Westwood

Updated 19 June 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team: One inspector completed the inspection.

Service and service type:

Westwood is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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. They had been in post since 2012.

Notice of inspection:

The inspection was announced. We gave the registered manager a short period of notice to ensure that some people, relatives and staff would be able to speak with us.

What we did:

Prior to the inspection, we reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as suspicion of abuse and serious injuries. We sought feedback from the local authority who work with the service and this was positive.

On this occasion we did not ask the provider to send us a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. However, we gave the provider an opportunity to provide this information to us.

During the inspection, we spoke with two people and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. Some people were unable to tell us about their care. We spoke with three members of care staff, a team leader, the registered manager and the operations manager. We reviewed a range of records including two people's care records and two medication records. A number of other records were reviewed in relation to the management of the service, including quality checks, staff training records, accidents and incidents and feedback received from people and staff. We looked at two staff files to ensure they had been recruited safely.

Updated 19 June 2019

About the service: Westwood is a residential care home that provides care for nine people with a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder. Nine people were living at the service at the time of our visit. This comprises of a house with two self - contained flats and a bungalow on site.

People’s experience of using this service: With the commitment of the provider’s staff, people had extremely positive outcomes in relation to their goals, aspirations and achievements. Staff provided exceptionally compassionate, person - centred care and support, where promoting independence was key to this.

Staff supported people creatively to have relationships with those important to them. Promoting independence was a key part of the service, where people were supported to take small steps towards bigger goals.

People received care which was responsive to their individual needs. Staff were matched with people and had a good understanding of how to support them well.

Where risks associated with people's health and wellbeing had been identified, there were plans to manage those risks. Risk assessments ensured people could continue to be as safe as possible and maintain their independence.

Staff understood their responsibility to safeguard people from harm and knew how to report concerns.

There were enough staff to ensure people were safe and able to participate in the activities they chose to. These were wide ranging, according to people’s interests and needs.

The provider ensured care was based upon good practice guidance to help ensure people received an effective service.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People received a suitable diet of their choosing and were encouraged to be involved in preparing this. The provider and staff team worked closely with external healthcare professionals to ensure people's health and wellbeing was promoted and maintained.

People, relatives and staff had opportunities to feedback about the running of the service and were listened to.

Positive feedback was received in relation the registered manager and provider who carried out comprehensive quality checks, ensuring the service was managed well.

Rating at last inspection:

Good published in October 2016.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on previous rating.

Follow up:

There will be ongoing monitoring and routine inspections of the location based on the rating of Good.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk