Archived: Wycar Leys Bulwell

Updated 1 September 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 was planned to check 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 unannounced inspection took place on 22 and 23 April 2015 and was carried out by one 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.

Before our inspection, we reviewed all the information we hold about the service, including the notifications we had received about incidents. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law.

Most of the people living at the service were not able to fully express their views by talking with us and some chose not to interact with us at all. During the visit we observed the care of eight people, spoke with four relatives, six care staff, the handyman and the registered manager.

We visited each of the buildings that form the care home and we looked at the care plans for four people, the staff training and induction records for staff, five people’s medicine records and the quality assurance audits that the registered manager completed. We also looked at information from surveys and a report from a professional commissioner of services.

Updated 1 September 2015

This inspection took place on 22 and 23 April 2015 and was unannounced.

Wycar Leys Bulwell is a care home for a maximum number of 22 people with learning disabilities. It consists of three buildings which are known as The Cottage, The Homestead and Middleton House. There were a total of 19 people accommodated during our inspection.

There was a registered manager in place at the time of this inspection. 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.

People were safely cared for by staff who knew what action to take to keep everyone safe and the provider used safe systems when new staff were recruited. All risks to safety were minimised and medicines were well managed to make sure people received them safely as prescribed.

Staff received regular training and knew how to manage people’s individual needs. People received sufficient to eat and drink and they had the support they needed to see their doctor and other health professionals as needed.

The staff were knowledgeable about the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and applications for DoLS had been made appropriately. Staff gained consent from people whenever they could and, where people lacked mental capacity, we saw that arrangements were in place for staff to act in their best interests.

Staff were kind and helped people to keep in contact with their families. People’s privacy and dignity were respected and promoted.

The complaints procedure was not robust. The registered manager had not always responded to people who had tried to contact the service with their concerns, as messages about their attempts to make contact had not been passed on. Also, the outcome of previous complaints was not clear.

People’s individual needs had been assessed and full clear plans were specific to people as individuals. Staff were knowledgeable about how to respond to people’s individual likes and interests. Staff assisted people to take part in appropriate daily activities and holidays. Any important changes in people’s needs were passed on to all staff when they started their shifts, so that they all knew the up to date information.

Overall, the service was well-led and plans were in place to continuously develop the service to meet people’s changing needs.